The Hedingham Chronicles - Book One
by AuthorKylie
Summary: In a world destroyed by a nuclear holocaust that had been the hope of humanity to obliterate a plague of dragons there is a safe haven, a place needed to be whispered of in the songs of the bards to bring hope. Here are the stories of Hedingham and Fire.
1. THC Book 1 Prologue

**The Hedingham Chronicles**

**Book 1: Walk of Fire**

**Alternate Reality**

**Crossover - Reign of Fire – Yugioh – and numerous other things...**

**Full Summery:**

_In a world destroyed by a nuclear holocaust that had been the hope of humanity to obliterate a plague of dragons, two young men lead separate lives in the small communities scattered across the globe as pocket safe-havens against the dragons, radiation and crazed humans. One will undertake a daring journey to lead his loved ones to safety; the other struggles on the confusing road of unravelling his very existence. _

_Together they'll uncover the mystery of their connected ancient pasts, learn who they'd once been, win over the hearts of the hardened, scarred world to bring a peace only dreamed of and find a home where all can be safe._

_This is their story._

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**Prologue: The Rising**

Year – October 2009

The blistering sand-dunes, sun-kissed in their sweet golden sheen loitered around his feet as he wiggled his bare toes into the tiny grains, giggling gleefully as he skipped and skidded his way towards the encampment near the temple ruins.

Twilight's glitter cast itself across the risen tents and he squealed, dashing between them in laughter, catching the trousers of a tall man carrying a pot of steaming tea.

The man's blue shined hair fluttered around his weather hardened features, but the smile upon his cheeks was crystal clear and full of tenderness as he stared downwards into the grinning features of the ten year old boy at his ankles.

"Hello Yugi my boy," the British accent was rich and aristocratic, "I thought you would be off with Ryou and Malik hunting out the dinner tent."

"No, I wanted to find ojii-chan!" Yugi squeaked in childish excitement, sweeping back his long golden fringe. Around his back the shorter hair surrounding his head was a deep, black yet sprayed at the tips a purple shine was visible.

Still, it was always the boys amazing eyes that struck the elders of the archaeological dig. They remained always a constant unhuman amethyst, wide and innocent, making the perfectly rounded features of the cheerful boy seem angelic.

Alfred Bakura knelt down, giving a chuckle. "Well, I believe the last I saw him he was still down in the tunnels, how about you go find him and tell him its dinner."

"Hai, hai Bakura-sama!" Yugi dashed off, bare feet padding across the sand, tearing it up behind him.

For an eight year old boy the sands of Egypt was a playground of great magnitude, expanding his imagination, tanning his skin golden-brown, giving him the most wonderful sense of freedom ever possible. He loved the world in which he'd been born into, the friends in whom he made during his grandfathers travels but most of all, he adored his grandfather. Solomon Motou was his everything. The man who had raised him from birth, given him an education while travelling, and given him the name Yugi.

Game.

How he loved the word.

Grinning as he ducked his way into the temple ruins the tiny boy of petite size of his age followed the torches deeper into the cold underground network. The air through the tunnels gave the strangest sensation that the world was breathing as it brushed past him, fluttering his golden bangs back. Stepping over excavation equipment Yugi heard the muffled sound of voices not too far ahead and quickened his pace. Soon he flung himself onto the legs of his grandfather and grinned into the old man's furrowed brow.

For a moment the old man with the tussled grey bread and wind-swept hair bundled back in a yellow bandanna looked slightly taken aback at the sudden appearance of his adorable grandson, but his frown quickly vanished and his pale grey eyes under the rim of his glasses shone brightly in warm cheer.

The oddest thing about him was that though his wear was as simple as a pour archaeologist could manage he bore rather proudly around his neck a small blue crystal. Yugi had always wondered what it was and why the kindly old man wore it in the manner that it was visible to the world.

"Why hello their Yugi, my bright ray of sunshine!" Solomon proudly chuckled down at the tiny boy.

"Ojii-chan!" Yugi clung tighter, adoring the smell of his grandfathers pants, the musky scent he carried that reminded the child of books and libraries, "Bakura-sama said it is dinner!"

"Ah, well...being the proper English Lord he is, Mr. Bakura does know the time." Solomon chuckled, scrubbing at his scalp under the wild grey hair.

Yugi only grinned, hearing another voice join the conversation. He twisted his head around, craning his neck upwards to see a tall Egyptian man standing some feet away near a small hole in the wall of the tunnel side. Yugi's eyebrows raised slightly in curiosity at the sight of the darkness within the tiny hole, the breathing was coming from within it, and if he listened harder, he was sure he sensed a gentle rumble of a heart-beat. The world was sleeping.

But the two adults above him didn't seem to notice.

Yugi continued to grin.

His friend Malik was only a year older than him, his Egyptian father was a strong man of dark black hair and a kindly smile behind sharp, stark features. Beside his short grandfather, the Egyptian towered like an ancient lord.

"Alfred should be down here," the accent was a little odd but Yugi had adapted to it, considering how long he and Malik spent spilling around the sands together, playing dragons and Pharaohs, "this could be the break through we've been looking for Solomon. All our years of searching and maybe this is it."

"True...maybe we should go back and get him and he might need to call Arthur, all the Inklings should be here for this but then again," Solomon pouted, "we could be wrong it might just get their hopes up. I wouldn't want to bring Arthur out here just to see nothing-."

"What is it ojii-chan? Gomen." The boy blinked suddenly, bowing his head in shame, "I did not mean to cut you off."

Solomon ruffed the boy's head of strange tri-coloured hair, the evidence of someone having tried to dye out the unnatural colouring still lingered, "that's alright Yugi. Come, have a closer look!" Solomon pushed the boy forward and knelt beside him as they both peered into the darkness of the hole in the tunnel wall side.

Yugi screwed up his brow, tasting a foul scent in the air.

"Is there a mummy inside?" He tipped his head up, "because it smells!"

"That, Yugi, is what we're trying to find out." Solomon clicked a small torch on from the belt around his waist, he pointed it through the darkness but the light was swallowed up thickly. Yugi tilted his head.

"Can't you make the hole bigger?"

"To worried the whole place will come down." Beside them both the Egyptian man shrugged his board shoulders.

"Can we go inside?" Yugi peered at the hole, looking as though he was thinking quite deeply about something, "ojii-chan...we can both fit!" He exclaimed suddenly, pointing to his shoulders. "Oh, please ojii-chan, can I? Can I?" The boy began to bounce in excitement.

Solomon sighed a fake sigh of endearment, "well, I suppose so...since we're down here. Azeri can you get some rope to tie around us. We may as well see if this is worth all our fuss and bother and if it isn't...then Arthur won't have a reason to leave his dying daughter."

"Makes sense." The Egyptian stood and moved towards a gathering of equipment. Yugi began to squeal softly and Solomon smirked at the boy who would eventually take after him, he was sure. Not quite the Indiana Jones type of archaeologist but close enough. At least he didn't wear a gun or a whip.

Azeri returned, bearing a length of long rope. He knelt beside Yugi and hooked the rope around his middle before doing the same to Solomon.

Picking up a brighter torch Solomon passed one to Yugi before kneeling and carefully pushing his way through the small hole.

Yugi followed after him, keeping his excitement in check as he scanned his light around the tunnel wall. Strangely enough everything felt wet and the odd smell grew plainly more obvious. He heard his grandfather swear from up ahead and tried to ignore the naughty words, only to find himself giggling in excitement.

"Right, come along Yugi..." His grandfather's arms hooked under his arm-pits and he was propped down upon a stone floor, his bare feet wiggling in the cool wetness. Solomon flashed his light around, giving a long sigh of amazement at the beautiful artworks scattered over walls and pillars.

"Yes...yes...yes...we found it, Yugi! We did!" Solomon laughed, the sound of the cheerfulness echoing through what sounded like a large cavern. Hand in hand they snaked their way around, finding scattered golden artefacts lying upon the floor.

Curiously Solomon began to note down the translations, taking a few photos from the tiny pocket digital camera around his waist, "this is interesting Yugi. I think it tells a story...hmm, the one I did my PhD on back...long time ago now..." Solomon chuckled, noting his grandson was hardly listening to his waffling on.

"Look, a dragon!" Yugi pointed to a painted image burned red upon golden brick, it was intricate, not in the same manner of the Egyptian paintings he was use to, considering how realistic it appeared, "ohhhh...it looks so...scary!"

Solomon nodded and snapped a photo of it. "An image of one of the Dragon Lords, Yugi...I believe that was Heba."

Yugi frowned at the name, "Heba...and Ryu and...and...and...the Dragon Pharaoh too!" He blinked at the bright flash of the camera going off again. Solomon chuckled at the boy's excitement. "My boy, you listen too many of Mr. Ishtars stories."

"Oh...now...now...what do we have here." From the glare of the bright flash of the camera Solomon noted a gleam in the distance. He motioned to Yugi and carefully they both plotted their way across the darkness. Yugi screwed up his face, making a small wincing noise as his bare feet came in contact with a slimy we substance upon the ground. It felt weird between his toes, and tingled as if it was trying to burn.

Ignoring it he caught up with Solomon and watched as the old man carefully checked over a pedestal for traps, coming away clean he picked up a golden box.

"Ojii-chan, you should not touch it..." Yugi pouted, "Your fingers could damage it."

Solomon smirked at the face his grandson was pulling. He knelt beside him and revealed the golden box to him. The boy's eyes sparkled in lust at the sight of the treasure. All his young life he had been shown treasures and he knew that forever, which seemed a very long time to his young mind, that he would always, and always search for treasures like his grandpa.

"This, I believe, Yugi...used to belong to a young Pharaoh."

"The Pharaoh you're trying to find!" Yugi's eyes gleamed in excitement.

"Yep." Solomon nodded thoughtfully, giving his grandson's head a gentle pat, chuckling at the ruffles of spiked, tri-coloured hair.

"The Dragon Pharaoh!" Yugi squealed in excitement, slapping hands across his cheeks, "I love his story. What is it ojii-chan, oh please, tell me what it is?"

Solomon glanced over the box, "it must hold the Inverted Pyramid, one of Seven ancient artefacts made of a Dragons golden tears. Remember the legend; they said the young Pharaoh made a pact with the dragons of old. I believe, as do some others my field, my boy, that the young Pharaoh discovered a way to communicate with the beasts, to understand them not as monsters and he bridged a gap...Yugi...what's wrong...?" Surprised to find his grandson no longer listening to him Solomon raised an eyebrow at the pale white expression the boy was giving. Slowly he turned his head around and he gasped, staggering back three paces and grabbing Yugi's tiny body as they both stared into a widely opened red eye. It blinked, making a clipping sound like the tinkering of chain-mail.

A breath of foul tasting wind brushed past.

The eye vanished into the darkness but light flared. Solomon heard Yugi's cry as liquid was splattered over them. The boy clawed at his eyes in a frantic motion, screaming as the ground began to rumble and the light of a flaring fire ignited once more.

The shape of an shadowed beast moved and snaked. Solomon stood shock still for a brief second, not quite believing the vision he was seeing.

Then he moved, the human reaction of flight kicking in. He grabbed for his tiny grandson and ran towards the tiny tunnel opening. Shoving Yugi into it he pushed the boy onward, feeling something akin to heat but more like the freeze of ice skin his back as a roar sounded from behind. Tumbling out into the larger tunnel Solomon staggered to his feet.

Without hesitation he yelled.

"Run! Azeri RUN!" He snatched Yugi around the waist and dashed past the Egyptian man. A shattering blast erupted from behind as fire consumed the tunnel. The Egyptian's body vanished in the combusting air of smelling, mutated shadows.

Solomon threw his legs into a swifter pace, the faintly glowing small crystal around his neck lighting the path as he dashed around the corners of the ancient underground network. From behind he could hear the rumbling of the ground as their world was shaken.

A light up ahead told he was nearing the entrance and yet the strange heat burning his back revealed he was going to reach it too late. The fire raged forward and he threw himself onto the ground just as he came free of the tunnel, covering Yugi's tiny body with his own, the shadows combusted like a splurge of toxic waste, consuming their two bodies as it erupted from the temple entrance like a sweeping tornado.

Yugi screamed as the noise died away, his blinded eyes unable to see anything but darkness. His grandfather's body was limp over his own and he scrambled out from under him, shaking the body until he could feel sticky wet blood upon his fingers. Everything smelt of burnt flesh.

"Ojii-chan..." Whispering Yugi shook the body, "No! No! Ojii-chan! Ojii-chan!"

Voices echoed all around him, but all he saw was the old man's kindly face staring back at him, blankly and without expression. In his hand he grasped the ancient golden box, the heat having fused the gold to his skin. Yugi trembled, scrambling away, into the arms of Alfred Bakura as the man knelt in the hot sand, staring in disbelief at his old friend and colleague.

"Yugi, Yugi." The kindly English-lord touched his burned cheeks, "Yugi, little one, what did you see?"

Yugi turned his bright purple eyes towards the sky, whispering, "red eyes."

Alfred held the tiny boy closer as voices clustered all around, "so it begins again..." The English Lord bowed his head, staring at the ancient golden box Solomon's hands still clutched. "Solomon, we got our wish..."

Yugi blinked his painfully swollen eyes, reaching trembling hands out, tugging at his grandfathers yellow bandanna and pulling it to his lips. "Ojii-chan...come back to me..."

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_So...a lot has been happening and lot hasn't been happening. I'm still so sick but I'm just trying to take every day as they come. It's hard to roll out of bed in pain and know that's all you can expect for the day. _

_However, this story has given me so much entertainment during sad and sick nights when I have been unable to sleep due to being too hot or in too much pain._

_The entire writing process of this 'story' has been an utter, utter delight to do between getting my novel edited. Yes, you heard me right; I'm having my novel edited! W00t! Painful process but it's rather fun but...um...embarrassing at times. :(_

_One step closer though!_

_Yay! _

_Anyway, about this story, some of you might remember I started it awhile ago, deleted after awhile too since it was going nowhere. Well, this is redone version, it screamed at me to finish it. It's totally finished. I waited until I finished it to upload it but won't upload it all in one go. That'll give me time to write the next book, lol. My Dad pretty much told me to write it, why? Well, being of my state of being so sick I'm quite dark at the moment and I was killing my second novel with my depressing state. _

_So my Dad said, 'Dear, write something about the end of the world, about death and sadness and loneliness.' So...what did I do, I wrote a story about what happens after the end of the world. _

_This is that story._

_The first part of kind of taken from the movie 'Reign of Fire' however then I start bridging out. You'll start to see bits and pieces of so many other things, if you can pick them up. I can't name all of them right now, but this whole story is kind of a mish-mash of ideas thrown together. I've also used some other cartoon characters simply because it's easier to use them than to create OC's._

_In saying that, there are some OC's in this story, if you've read Those Distant Stars, you should be pretty familiar with them (No, Little Sam is not in it). I'm not sure if Sol is an OC in this story, I'll let you decide that when you figure the story out._

_OC's are an interesting breed in Fanfiction's. I want everyone to understand, I write 'all the time' and I write 'big books.' I've been creating my own characters pretty much from the moment I could imagine them. I know how to write a character, I think, anyway. _

_One problem with Yugioh is the lack of females in their cast, or the females I like to write. So, I'll let you be the judge of things in the end. But I did have a lot of fun! That's what counts for me at the moment. _

_Now if I say anything else, I'll give the whole thing away. _

_So, right now, sit back, enjoy, try to enjoy the grammar and spelling of a dyslexic and very sick writer._

_I really, really hope you enjoy this story as much I enjoyed writing it!_

_Cheers,_

_The Writer Within :P_


	2. THC Book 1 Chapter 1

The Hedingham Chronicles

Book 1: Walk of Fire

**~Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it ~**

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**Chapter 1: Rising of Ra**

_Location: Hedingham Castle, Essex – Subsection 2.9 _

_Date: 2028_

_It's strange that I have kept this journal for you to read for so many years now. These records, my children will be important; because someday it might be up to you to finish the job I have started. _

_I do not want you to be afraid of this new world in which you live within but I also do not want you to look back at what the elders tell you was before Tribulation. _

_I simply want you to understand._

_Knowledge is the only weapon we've got left. _

_In the beginning it was ignorance that destroyed us. They raged across land, water and ice, consuming all regardless of status, race, religion or location. Millions swarmed like locust, no one knew how they spawned so fast._

_They burned the earth with elements we could never know nor understand._

_They were driven only by one purpose..._

_To feed._

_Even then we couldn't believe they were real, ancient man had made them into myths. Yet nature had made something far more terrifying._

_To late our scientists discovered their true identity; a species that had burned the dinosaurs to dust, who's ash had brought on an ice age, who in eon's past had scorched the earth clean of life, then starved and slept. Waiting, waiting for the world to replenish itself, waiting to start their cycle again._

_Our weapons shot back at them._

_Yet for every one of them killed, a hundred more took its place._

_They seemed invulnerable._

_We could only look on as our leaders used their greatest arsenal against them._

_In the end we only helped them._

_The world burned._

_You have to understand our past, my children._

_Because you will decide our future._

_They are wild and untamed now, roaming to kill, to burn and growing stronger, if not braver for their being so few humans to fear them._

_They are more dangerous now than ever._

_But we have to survive. _

_We have to go on. _

_We have to outlast them. _

_Only one species is getting out of this alive. _

Atemu Amir, Knighted as Sir Yami of Earl Atum's Court, tilted his head up slightly. He sensed the change in the wind that brushed past his hair to flutter the leather bound handmade-paper book propped up on his knees.

His quill pen dribbled its ink over the browning paper and he glanced at the splodges, reaching for his blotting paper upon the cold stone surface. Noticing it had blown away he sighed, rubbing away the ink with a finger before closing the aging book and pocketing it back into a slim carry bag.

Gathering up the rest of his writing gear he stood to dust off his worn leather pants and titled his head out across the horizon that welcomed him atop the battlement of the Keep.

What was left of humanity had fled the cities and the falling ash; gone into hiding and clustered into small communities and safe-zones. Each a little world of its own, with rules of its own, with ways of surviving the dragons and the dangerous of a radiation contaminated world.

Society had crumbled to its knees.

Technology was limited.

Supplies scarce.

Water toxic.

The air like a thick haze of yellow vomit, filled with gases and fumes.

And there was silence in the world.

A deafening sound like the held breath waiting to be exhaled.

Yami breathed out deeply, the chilled evening air caught his breath as it floated away in a small cloud over the embattlement. He moved slowly over the cold brick work and watched through the sodden clouds as the shine of twilight sunlight reflected across green-lit hills.

Hedingham Keep was his home.

A home to quite a community that had gathered over the years his father had built up the surrounding area as a strong safe haven.

Once it had been a Norman keep, a hundred and ten feet high it had been built c.1140 by a man named Aubrey de Vere. He didn't know much of its history, since history itself was something long forgotten but he at least knew who'd built their home. Though it had four stories above ground what was truly their world was the underground network created like a liar of ants. That was where the everyday living of the surviving humanity dwelled; in the slums and pits of darkness.

Rubbing his gloved hands together the young man leant himself against battlement wall, blowing onto his visible finger-tips. Even in the grey light of the English dying day his skin reflected a dark shine, revealing some of his Egyptian heritage. He could remember zilch about his home-land. His father never spoke of it, though the selves of his room where full of historical documents and ancient dead languages.

They were little alike as father and son; where his father was tall and broad with hair long and grey, eyes like pale waxed moons, he himself was short of stature and though he could boast of having good physical strength and a body that could have been made of steel from the tones of his muscles, he wasn't actually that much to look at. It was very easy to mistake him for just someone else, despite his usually striking features. His father was a king of old, who upheld to rules and regulations like clock-work; and he, the son, was the new kind of king, the cunning and shadowy kind to didn't fear getting dirty and stained with blood if it meant protecting that which he protected.

His long frayed hair was oddly coloured, a naturally blond fringe constantly lay folded over his face, while his shortened spikes of black and ebony crowned his skull to shimmer down his back in a pony-tail. Long hair was a bother when trying to fire a dragon-pistol; therefore he rarely let his hair free, making his appearance stark and revered with his Egyptian toned skin dark and foreboding. Black was a colour dragons could not see so black was the chosen colour of attire most of the knights within the Keep wore.

Himself included.

Black leather with a tinkering of chain-mail and a belt slung around his waist, holding a board sword and a dragon-pistol.

As he walked his heavy, iron toed boots clipped upon the wet stone work.

The world had reverted back to an almost medieval state. In many regards he was considered an Earl's son. His father owned the keep, the land around it and allowed people to live upon it. He was looked up to by those around him to protect them and keep them safe, a task he and those he'd chosen as knights continued to do with vigour.

Yami smiled faintly as he spied one of his most trusted of friends, indeed, truth be told, they where the best of friends. They'd saved each other's live on countless occasions, always fuelled each other's emotions, be it rage, passion or terror and sometimes, more often than not, humour.

Felix Kal-mar, Knighted as Bakura the White of Atum's Court, was a firm, elegant knight with pale white hair tied tightly back to reveal a strongly boned and tanned face.

Best suited to the working of twin blades he was deadly, keen and swift to the kill. The knight was perched upon the keeps up-most wall, curled up between the large bricks with a Bible in hand. In this mouth he lazily chewed a strap of leather from his black overcoat, red eyes scanning the pages he flipped through.

"Thought I'd find you up here, though I don't know why, didn't you tell me it mattered not the height, God is with you wherever you go?" Yami spoke smoothly, sliding his arms upon the wall side to lean against it. He flicked his eyes between them both, noticing Bakura did not acknowledge his presence but continued to read. The tiny worn black book was burnt and crimpled, the 'holy bible' imprint upon the surface of its fake leather surface long ago worn off.

"Are you coming down, the children wish us to continue the play tonight? Best not disappoint them."

It had always been a fascinating thing between them both, their akin red eyes. People would remark that they like the dragons that haunted them, had red eyes. Maybe that was why they made such good killers, because of their eyes.

"Yeah, yeah..." Bakura snorted, flinging one leg over the side of the wall, "coming." He flipped shut his book and slipped it into a pouch around his belt. Yami winced as his shoulder was slapped and a heavy arm was slung around him, weighing him down as Bakura leant upon him in a brotherly fashion. The young man was a good couple feet taller than he was, and held a form of a brutal warrior, body covered in muscles hard from swinging swords and welding iron poles.

"So, tell me, your highness, has Seto managed to increase the shield strength?" Bakura gave a wave around the castle grounds.

Smirking Yami shoved the knight away, giving him a swinging kick in the shins. The shield, high-tech de-scenting equipment and environmental dome were all part of the reasons why their community had thrived. Seto Kaiba was an inventor, once he'd been a strong and powerful business-man who'd been travelling to England on a business trip when the first wave of attacks had started.

Somehow the man had ended up being drawn to the Hedingham Castle and it was only through the sheer-genius of the young scientist that they had the power and the technology to create the shield. It was a force-field that encompassed the entire castle and some of its outlining bailey, hence why within the shield the hillsides and trees where green and lush yet everything became stony and dead directly outside of the shield where the air was intoxicated with the fumes of solfa and ash.

"He was bragging about it before I left dinner."

Bakura snorted, "sounds like fun, glad I missed it. Alright, so, the kids want the rest of their story? Guess I take up my role as Lord Sharon once more!" Thrusting his fist out Bakura cackled a maddened laugh.

Yami shook his head, giving a small smile. "I think you enjoy being the bad guy far too much Bakura."

"Who knows, old friend..." Bakura patted his chest, though something in his tone made Yami sure the man was not jesting, "maybe in some alternate reality I am the bad guy."

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It was near impossible to breathe in the coal tasting air of the tunnels lit only by the faint glow of torches and slightly flickering light globes starved of power. Sweat dribbled from his dirtied skin, sliding down his bare chest as it heaved, the muscles tensed as he swung the pick-iron and sent rocks a tumble with each shattering blow.

Rubbing his sticky fringe from his purple gaze he tilted back Yugi swung once more, giving a loud cry as he broke the earth with the strength of his blow. He shifted his booted feet, feeling them ache from the abuse of the long hours, yet still he swung again.

A voice from behind called out through the dim light and he propped his slim body against the pick-iron, glancing around.

"Oie, Yugi! Come and have a look at this!" The gruff shout gravelled through an aged mouth. He perked up a small, weak smile, slinging his heavy tool over his shoulder and wandering towards the slightly brighter light.

The tall, grouchy and slightly bent old man came into view, waving at him happily with some excitement gleaming in his eyes as he played with a working on pipes lining the ceilings of the interlinking tunnels of working mines. He reached out to touch one, feeling the coolness of it against his hardened, blistered skin.

"Straight drop from the water-tower now," the old man reached up fingering the piping, "just reach up and pull the plug and five hundred gallons of water per minute hits the walls."

"I don't care about that Garry," Yugi rubbed at his sweaty shoulders, "twelve hundred centigrade's. Can it take it?"  
"Yeah, of cause it can," the Scottish-accent of the man broke through his tone for a moment, "remember I use to build blast furnaces for a living. I know about fire."

Yugi cracked a grin, slapping Garry's shoulder as he brushed past, "sure you do mate, nice one!"

Wandering through the tunnel's slightly larger opening he watched the movement of bodies, the workers rumbling around with the allocated tasks. Carefully his eyes picked out three young men sitting in a darkened corer, pick-irons resting across knees as they whispered softly between each other.

His glare hardened as he approached, taking note when they spied him and quickly with some small amount of shame and detesting they gathered up their tools to begin work once more.

Yugi snorted. He rubbed at his shoulders once more from the aching of the heat, sweat and over abuse. He was only petite in size, a fragile frame for a man, yet this did not deter him in his physical labour. His strength could match anyone his age and twice his size. He'd proven this, time and time again. This community was part of his reasonability; there would be no way he would lack in his strength when they counted on him to uphold it.

He tilted his head as a commotion sounded. A man grabbed him, rushing through the entrance of the mine, snagging his shoulders and gasping into his face.

"Yugi! Richards gone nuts!"

Yugi's eyes widened and he shoved past the man, seizing a passing teenager and throwing his pick-iron into the lad's arms, not bothering to turn back as he shouted, "Val! Get them working! No slacking!"

He vanished up the ramp, taking only a brief moment to ramble around for his torn and dirtied shirt, shoving it over his head as he rushed through the interlocking ramps and iron stairs through the centre of the castles insides. People moved from his road as he rushed, giving them faint smiles of reassurance. In the distance as he ran he listened to Peter's usual amblings, the old man dressed in his priest robes rambled onwards about the burning of hells fires. He waved as he passed the greying priest by, "yep, I know Peter, Armageddon's come! Some pre-warning would have been nice!" He shouted back, skipping two steps at a time.

After navigating his way through the business he broke into the grey light of the day, shivering from the chill in the air as it instantly caught his still sweaty skin smeared with dirt and grime. No one would have been able to see his pale skin and strangely hued hair from the dust that covered him and his dirty clothing. He ran past a guard who stood to sudden attention, shouting as he vanished.

"What's up Yugi?"

"Tell you later Joey!"

Picking up his speed through the bailey, skipping over the stones of the roadways, Yugi panted heavily as he ran towards the barriers holding the jeeps for harvesting. He watched the movement inside and quickly dashed through the mesh covering, confronting the man who paused from kissing his daughter. He set her upon the ground as he turned slowly towards him, long cape draping across the muddied ground.

"What are you doing Richard?" Yugi gasped out, glancing around at the filled jeep, laden with boxes for harvest.

"Me and a few men are going harvesting."

Yugi furrowed his brow, brushing aside his fringe as he slowly walked forward, "no you're not. We talked about this, it's too early. Half the stuff isn't ripe. If you pick it now it won't germinate, that means no seeds for next season!"

The heavy man snorted a growl, swinging his commanding tone towards the younger man and peering down. Yugi glared up into his cold eyes, not taking the difference in height into account.

"There won't be a next season when we all starve to death!" Richard spat into his face.

Yugi blinked.

"Richard, everyone agreed. We can do this! We just need to pull together."

"My family is starving-."

"Your family is only one part of this community Richard. You go out there," Yugi threw an arm out and pointed through the entrance, "you are putting all of us in danger! I will not have this community put in jeopardy because you're being a donkey headed ass."

Richard's cheeks turned a shade of dark red. "Why you little prick, you think that just because you have the ear of the lord of this bloody castle, you can call the shots."

"No," Yugi snarled, "I don't, I call the shots because thick headed idiots like you go wandering willy-nilly out and about to bring down ruin upon us. We decided on this Richard, we'll work together, we'll pull together, we'll out last them!"

A small crowd was gathering and Yugi noticed Joey's approach. The American's dirtied face distraught with worry as it usually was. One couldn't practically tell his hair was blond, considering the amount of ash crowning it.

"Kids can't eat hope Yugi." Richard hissed, "Edinburgh is gone. We haven't heard from anyone for two years. We're 'lone out here," Richard spread his hands, almost seeming to address the few gathered, "we may as well make the most of it."

"We don't know that, Richard," Yugi debated angrily, "maybe we are all that's left but we have to keep waiting, we have to survive."

"For eight years I've listened to you," Richard pointed, "and what for. Two kids and a wife buried out on the road. I'm not losing these Yugi." The man motioned to his three gathered children, "not when there is food out there."

Yugi snorted, hoisting himself up into the jeep and yanking out the keys in the ignition. He dangled them before Richards face, glaring, "you're not going anywhere Richard. You're not the only one with family to think of, my son hasn't eaten anything but scraps for the past five days. So don't preach at me!"

"Give me the keys Yugi-."

"You bloody take them from me." Yugi snapped.

The air tightened.

His feet shifted easily, his body moving with elegant grace he was gifted with as Richard swung out a fist. The scuffle was swift, each landing blows. Richard's wedding ring caught his cheek, cutting a keen slice through the skin.

Yugi swung an arm up to counteract only to find himself dragged away.

Joey's richly accented voice shouting.

"Hey, hey! 'nough already!"

Joey's blond hair dangled over his face as the strong youth snagged him around the waist, hoisting him back from the tussle. Yugi cursed under his lips at Joey's sudden intervention.

"Yugi! Calm down!"

Throwing out a punch for good tidings Yugi hit Richard firmly across the jaw, "you even dare, Richard, to attempt harvesting and I swear I will kill you! I will kill you!"

Blood splattered across the ground as Richard spat it from his mouth. He glared at the panting young man held firmly by his friend; the fire in his purple gaze frightening in that brief interlocking moment they stared between each other.

"This is a community Yugi, not a prison." Richard hissed.

Joey interjected, the American darking his tone, "Richard, you can argue as much as you like. It makes no difference. The point is, you go out those gates, you jeopardise this community, you can stay out there. Cause you're not coming back."

Richard seemed to debate for a moment then he turned away; giving a grumble and wiping his mouth and chin of the blood splatter.

"Fine." He flashed a hand at the gathering of men around the jeep and slowly he trudged away, throwing one glare back over his shoulder only to find the icy cold eyes of Yugi's still form glaring upon him, gouging into his skin.

Yugi unlinked himself from Joey's arms, yanking away and rubbing the blood from his cut cheek.

"Heck little Yug, yer gotta stop picking fights with the other guys-."

"I can stand my own Joey!" Yugi snapped as he bundled up his hair once more, ignoring the inhuman three-coloured layering of the thick shimmering locks drenched in coal and ash. "Ryou's father isn't going to be around much longer to keep things floating and Ryou is not the commanding type."

"No one ever would have picked you for the commanding type either." Joey muttered, ringing a hand through his greasy hair before shaking his shoulders. "Listen Yug, Richard's going to cause trouble no matter what happens."

"If he endangers this community and the people here then I will do what I must." Yugi brushed past his friend, "you know I will Joey."

"Fine, but you better report this to Alfred, and you get Ryou to look at that cut. You'll come down with fever if you let it go un-touched!"

Yugi threw him a back handed wave as he filed out into the grey day. Ash trickled down like snow, falling onto his cheeks as he tilted his head up watching the warning hawk kept by Malik flutter across the castle bailey. What had once been a pristine beautiful old castle owned by Alfred Bakura had become an industrial waste-land of pipes and shacked houses. A grey hue had settled over a century side that he'd once recalled had been green, the envy of all desert countries. It was now barren and stony. The falling ash was always a constant reminder of what they feared, the shadows that haunted their nightmares and even their dreams; the dragons. How he often trembled in horror of seeing the outline of out stretched wings upon the horizon, the taste the heat on his skin once more. Even now that giant red eye, poised and ready for action, haunted his every movement.

He'd seen the first.

And he would never forget.

Hissing Yugi touched his cheek, feeling the blood dribbling down it.

"Grandpa," he whispered, "please forgive me." Turning away he dragged himself towards the main keep of the castle his mind recalling the face of the old man who had fathered him from birth and died to protect him.

"I wish you were here."

00000

00

Ryou was slender and beautiful. It was as if someone had painted the perfect image and brought it to life. It wasn't to say he didn't look manly, for Ryou stood tall and solid, with the lean boxed shape of a typical male and none of the smooth curves that where usually equated with a woman, but he had a beauty about his walk and the way his pale white skin shone in a strange eerie way. He could have almost been mistaken for a ghost the way he glowed white, even his hair reflected the pure colour as it trailed down his back to dribble down his back in a high pony-tail.

His tender brown, almost pink, gaze warmly brought on smiles to everyone's faces, the orphan children adored him and he was kind to them in a loving, understanding manner. Patience, apparently, he had loads of patience – only with children though, adults, he thought, should know better. Usually adults copped his furious temper, which could range from physical confrontation, to being drugged by any number of his herbal potions.

Yugi raised an eyebrow as he shoved it way into the darkness of the castles main rooms. He leant against the door post, watching as Ryou finished working on the young woman sitting before him.

Kala Muller was rubbing her wrist, her rounded face distorted in a small amount of pain.

"Thanks Ryou." She whispered hesitantly.

"You're most welcome Kala, dear." Ryou grinned, "be careful with the wrist or you'll damage it all the more." He tweaked her nose.

"I will." The brown haired woman stood, brushing off her chest-nut coloured gown, obviously hand crafted before spying Yugi at the door. She blushed at his tender gaze.

"Hey Yugi."

"Hey there gorgeous." Shoving off the wall Yugi strolled towards her, taking up her wrist and gazing at it. "What happened?"

"Just tripped and fell, nothing to bother about. Silly really." She laughed softly, giving a shrug. "Ryou fixed me up. Well, I'd best be getting to the kitchens, someone has to keep Joey away from the stores. You will join us for dinner Yugi. Won't you?"

He gave a nod, "yeah, sure I will."

Kala shook her head sadly, "is this a real promise this time, because last time you said you would you didn't-."

Yugi placed a finger over her lips, stalling the tall woman's beginning rant. He cracked a kindly grin, "I promise, I'll join you for dinner."

"Okay. Thanks again Ryou...um...please give Malik my hello." She vanished out the door.

"Poor thing, she really has no idea Malik would drag her into a storage room the first moment he could. Contraception is just so difficult these days..."

"What? He's worried he'll get her pregnant?" Yugi raised an eyebrow, "Malik is worried about something like that? He's supposed to be spontaneous and dashing...are we talking about the same Malik here?"

"He doesn't want to burden the community or Kala with a child, and you know how many women we've had die in child birth, and usually the child doesn't make it anyway."

Yugi's eyes reflected the sorrow. He still had yet to figure out why their women were dying, and why the children lived only days afterwards, mutation from the radiation-winds was the conjoint thought but they had no way to prove it.

He could very well see Malik's point of view on the matter. "Well he could still tell her he likes her instead of making her worry."

"Oh, I think he likes making her worry." Ryou chuckled, shaking his head of white hair as he bundled up bandaging and moved towards a set of benches laden with healing supplies and strange alchemic devices. The room was dimly lit with flicking lights, yet candles where stationed everywhere, giving the round room a very odd and demonic feel about it.

"He could lay claim," Yugi scrubbed at his head, "some of the men might not have his high moral standard and she's a pretty girl and though I do so love asserting my dominance and supreme rulership over scum-bags, I can't get all of them."

Ryou frowned, though was half inclined to smile at his friends jovial though truthful tone, "point taken...I'll have a chat to him about it when I get the chance." The healer raised an eyebrow, giving a faint smile, "So, Yugi...let me guess, another fight?" Ryou sighed, touching his head as if to shield off a headache.

Yugi cracked a grin at his old friend, their relationship going back to their young child-hood years. Ryou knew him better that most, Malik too made an effort to keep all three of them connected in some way. They were pillars for the community, and pillars needed to be grouped.

"One of these days," Ryou looked over his shoulder to his smirking friend, "you're going to do yourself serious harm that I won't be able to heal. I hope Joey stopped you before you made an idiot of Richard."

Yugi seated himself upon a bench, folding both arms over his chest, "How'd you know it was Richard?"

"An Egyptian bird told me."

Yugi laughed, "thought Malik would be around."

"He's taking my father dinner, I'll finish with you and then we should join him. My father is wishing to discuss something with you."

"He's not going to give me another lecture about stately conduct again is he? I've had enough of those to last me for months..."

Ryou turned around, shaking his head as be brought over a bowel of warm water and began to wash Yugi's face of the grime that covered it. Protesting with small whines like a puppy Yugi laughed as he hit firmly over the shoulder, Ryou muttering at him like a disgruntled youth. Between the healers ankle length robes Yugi noticed the shine of the Ring dangling from a thin chain. The gleam golden in the candle light as Ryou shifted on his feet. The strange, ancient artefact had been taken from the same dig in which his grand-father had been killed. What else Alfred had taken, he wasn't sure, he hadn't really been in the right mind as a child to be thinking of what their protector had taken from the Egyptian dig.

One thing had been the Ring.

Like his grandfather had once told him, the ancient artefact had magical properties. Why, no one knew, how, no one knew. It simply did, and it simply worked with Ryou. Why it worked with Ryou and no one else was a mystery, but it was something they as a community kept quiet about.

You did not make it public knowledge that amongst you was a healer who needed only touch a wound to make it vanish. Though Ryou did have limits, the Ring, it seemed, drew power from his own life-force, the greater the wound, the more he had to give up his own energy to heal it. Sometimes he'd been forced to make a choice to not save a life to keep his own.

And then there was disease, something Ryou could not heal, nor could he heal hunger or thirst, or the poison of radiation. Life was hard, even with unexplainable magic twisted into the mixture.

Yugi winced as Ryou's gentle fingers brushed across his cheek; a chill grew around the wound as it closed over.

"There you go, now I can see your face." Ryou laughed, having finished with the washing. "Hello there Yugi, old chap, its been awhile since your skins seen a nice layer of sunshine and not dirt and grime."

Yugi gave a sing-song laugh, "I like it dirty. It's like a thick layer of sunscreen to protect me against the poor shattered ozone layer."

"Well, I won't have you going to see my father looking like a street-rat." Ryou chuckled, placing away the bowel and rubbing his hands upon a towel. "Come on."

"Thanks Ryou," Yugi touched his tingling cheek.

"Not a problem." The young English gentleman wandered away, his gown sliding around his shoes as he walked towards a large set of double doors. Yugi straightened his clothes, brushing his hair back and trying to make himself look a little bit more presentable. He heard Ryou's soft laugher a head as he opened the doors leading into the main bedroom of the castle. Yugi smelt the change in the air instantly. The scent reminded him always of Alfred, the English-lord had always smelt of cigars and even now his room smelt of them; hence why Alfred was now finding himself bed-ridden with cancer and ash poisoning. Ryou could not heal him, the damage was already far too deep within the body. Once Alfred died, it would fall upon ether himself, Ryou or Malik to take up leadership or maybe all three of them together.

That seemed more logical.

They all managed pretty good together already.

Malik was sitting by a large four-poster bed, reading aloud a book from a large collection to one side of the room where a window opened up into a view of the dying sunlight clustering through the grey clouds of ash. The Egyptian's brown skin gleamed a deep beautiful bronze in the dim light of the flickering candles, alighting even his shimmering looks of blond hair. Rather unusual for his people, but it matched his wayward character perfectly. He was highly intelligent, fluent in a number of languages and a keen hunter for dragons. His strength with a blade all but outweighed anyone using a dragon-pistol.

One did not cross Malik in the hope to live.

Yet despite besides being frightfully dangerous, Malik had a playful air too him, one he showed quite often, mostly around a particular woman or the orphan children. His mischievous nature gleamed in his lavender eyes, inhuman eyes, like the slits of a cat, eyes that would haunt a soul forever.

Eyes that had changed since the first dragon had killed his father, as if something in his soul had been awakened that day, something ancient and untamed.

They'd all changed that day.

"Father." Ryou skipped up to the bed, seating himself upon it and looking at the harrowed man puffed up with pillows and blankets, "how do you feel today?"

"Quite alright my son." Alfred's frail voice whispered out. A slim hand slipped free of the bed covers to clasp his son's far stronger hands.

Ryou smiled tenderly. "I brought Yugi along, father, he got into another fight."

"Ryou." Yugi sighed, throwing up his hands, "don't tell him that."

Alfred chuckled, giving a wave for Yugi to approach the bed. "Ah, such a spirited soul you have my little one. You live for battle, tarnished in such blood, but I'd expect nothing less from you. You are a protector of the weak, despite your tender heart. This vile world has made you conform to such rage..."

Yugi knelt beside the bed, reaching out his worn, blistered hands and clasping Alfred's fingers in his own. He bowed his head in shame, "I'm sorry sir."

"Do not ever be sorry Yugi Motou, for the strength you have been blessed with to protect those you love!" Alfred heaved himself up, giving a cough as he moved. Malik quickly stood, aiding the man into sitting upright. The Egyptian gave a worried expression, only earning himself a slap over the cheek from Alfred's other hand.

"Stop looking at me like that child, death isn't something I fear. Ryou, go get that box from the top left cubed."

"Yes father." Ryou quickly stood.

Yugi watched him as he moved away, but his attention was shifted back to Alfred as the old man tightened his grip on his fingers.

"Yugi, I want you to understand something, and this will be hard for you, I know but you must listen to me." Alfred wheezed out softly, "your grandfather and I were chasing a legend, part of that legend ended up being reality, obviously, considering we found what we sought in the rising of that dragon so many years ago. It is now my belief that the second half of the legend has just as much truth. It only is through an understanding of our past that we shall survive the future." The old man insisted firmly.

"Yes sir, I know sir." Yugi nodded.

"It is not coincidence, child, that you and your grandfather uncovered the ancient tomb of the Dragon Pharaoh." Alfred chuckled darkly, his brow lifting in thought, "Solomon was destined to find what he sought and you where destined to be with him."

"What do you mean?" Yugi furrowed his brow in confusion, glancing to Malik. The Egyptian shrugged.

"Nor do I understand, Yugi." Alfred sighed, "but for some odd reason it simply feels this way. Your grandfather was not a normal man, Yugi, I knew that the moment he saved my life. I have thought long and hard about it these long and lonely years and I keep coming back to the legend and its words, the legend he and I found that one day the walls cave in around us and our futures where changed forever."

Both Yugi and Malik leant forward and spoke in unison. "In the darkest of days, a pact was born. By gold and blood, ye be bound, nether shall live without the other. Shall one perish so shall the other, in a cycle born to begin again until called they are to rise a-bright. Bound by golden tools, begin again, the world that was. Bring to us peace, ye who bound soul to red eyes."

Yugi thinned his lips, "red eyes." He whispered, "the shadow-dragon..." he shook his head from the recollection of the eye he had seen long ago, the eye of a dragon that had looked upon him as a frightened child with such clarity as if it had known exactly who he was. He'd never understood why that dragon had looked down upon him, seen him, known him, and not killed him.

"I don't understand it sir." Yugi shifted slightly as Ryou came to sit down upon the bed side once more, a large box in his hands that he placed up his father's lap and carefully opened it.

"I know the meaning will reveal itself to you Yugi, given time, though," Alfred gave a small smile, "it has yet come to Ryou and he has held his Item for quite a number of years now."

Yugi glanced to the healer, then down to the strange ring of gold hidden under his robe, a ring with a red eye in its centre; spirals trailing down like the claws of a dragon.

Golden blood.

"I feel it is time I gave this to you Yugi, before I depart from this world. Your grandfather died to find it, and I believe it belongs to you." Alfred carefully took out a shining pyramid, fitting in the palm of his weak hand, dangling from a thin ancient golden rope. Yugi gasped, covering his mouth at the sight of the gleaming blue sheen seeping from somewhere within its confines.

Somehow, it almost felt as if it was alive, watching him, admitting a pulling sensation with whispering, strange voices that made no sense within his mind.

"The...the pyramid. Grandapa...he took that...I remember." Yugi spluttered.

Malik's hand touched his shoulder firmly, giving it a tender squeeze of reassurance. They'd both lost their loved ones that day, when the first of the dragons had risen from slumber.

"And now, I give it to you. Remember the story Yugi, of the Dragon Pharaoh, keep it in your mind always. Remember what he did to save his people, how did he make a pact with a beast. If you uncover what this pact was, what it means to bind a soul to red eyes, maybe you will save us, just like he did so long ago."

Yugi nodded slowly, carefully reaching out and taking the golden amulet. He flicked his gaze towards Ryou as he slid the chain over his head, feeling the strange weight around his neck as it bumped onto his chest.

Ryou smiled.

"Welcome, Yugi, to the burden." He whispered.

"Malik, my son." Alfred turned to the Egyptian, "you have suffered greatly, first losing your father and then your sister...I fear your grief drives you." Alfred took the large, strong hands of the young man in his hands and placed them against his cheeks.

Malik glanced away in a small shimmer of shame.

"I suppose." He breathed out.

"I cannot fault you, child but I do ask that you think before you leap and please, for goodness sake get that young woman of yours before she finds another man."

Yugi bit his lips, stopping himself from giggling a laugh from Malik's deep blush.

"I have something for you also, Malik," reaching into the box Alfred pulled free an odd looking rod; he twirled it expertly in the air, revealing the fluttering of golden wings that poked free from the sphere centred atop the lean golden rod.

Malik's eye's shined.

"Your people had many belief's, and I respected all of them, as I respected your father." Alfred passed over the golden artefact, "this was also found with the Pyramid and the Ring Ryou has worn for a number of years. I believe it shall go to you, child, considering your father was the man who aided us in our search despite knowing the curse that could follow."

Breathing out softly and leaning back into his pillows Alfred closed his eyes wearily, "I know not what these strange golden Items had to do with the dragons that threaten to consume us but I know they have a reason for existence, as do you three. There is a reason for your friendship." He opened his eyes once more, looking at them all in unison, "promise me, boys...that you will not forget your childhoods together, the joy you knew as children. Remember it, and remember you are brothers, protect each other and that which you each hold dear. Whatever one finds precious, the other shall also find precious. Be as one, move as one, and don't get yourselves killed!"

"Yes sir." The replied quickly.

"Now, go...get going...I'm tired and I need a sleep."

Yugi quickly stood, looking to Malik who rose beside him, giving a small bow. Ryou smiled as he tucked his father up in the blankets.

"Good night Father."

"Good night, my children." Alfred whispered as they turned to leave. A tear trickled down the old man's cheek as he closed his eyes. "Keep safe."

00000000000

000000

000

He'd read somewhere once that children needed structure in their lives and he liked to think he brought to them such structure in the dark and damp world that surrounded them. A story was told within what once would have been a small chapel within the castle walls. It was after a joint dinner that was usually a noisy and bothersome affair that he despised, however seeing the smiles of the children's faces was worth it in the end.

Both he and Malik had been chosen for the job of the story that evening, and had decided on a well known, old story that the children born after the Tribulation would not have heard of.

"Join me, the black knight says," Mailk fisted a hand into the air, "then we can end this conflict forever."

Yugi swung the fake light-sabre, "never!"

They tussled over the small stage, swinging the two sticks back and forth, listening to the gathering of children squeal and gasp.

"I'll never join you, the white knight says," Yugi quickly spoke, "you killed my father." He rose up, swinging his blade forward into a swift action.

Before him, smirking behind his black mask, Malik twirled his own stick and lunged it down in a swiping action.

Yugi dropped his light-sabre as his hand was sliced off, the children gasped in horror, some squeaking in fear. Quickly Yugi flashed his hand, revealing it was still attached to his arm before hiding it in the sleeve of his shirt once more after the sigh of relief came from the gathered children.

Malik twirled his fingers making an action, "the black knight stares through the holes in his shiny mask and speaks words that burn into our hero's heart forever..." The Egyptian added the heavy, dark breathing through the mask, leaving a small pause for the children as their mouths gaped open. Placing hand to his chest Malik tilted his head up slightly, "I am your father."

The children gasped and squealed in shrieks of disbelief.

"No." Yugi cried aloud, "noooo."

The lights dimmed.

The children erupted into claps.

Malik clapped Yugi over the shoulder, smirking under his face mask. They joined hands, turning towards the children as the lights flicked on again.

Mailk removed his mask, chuckling at the children. One piped up, "did yer make that up Mr. Malik?"

"Of cause I did." Malik smirked, clapping the kid over the head with his light-sabre.

"And!" Yugi shouted, "We'll continue the adventure of Luke Skywalker tomorrow evening. Now its time for bed children." Groans sounded from all around and Yugi smiled at their devastated faces. The hubbub continued as the children shouted.

"Lion King!"

"No, no, Lord of the Rings."

"Narnia!"

"I want Tarzan!"

Yugi clapped his hands together, shouting out, "no, no! Tomorrow night children! Tomorrow night. Come on, prayers now!"

The commotion calmed down and slowly the children watched as the two adults knelt, clasping their hands together in front of their chests. The small tiny children; all dressed in their identical blue robes, did the same, wide little eyes waiting for the night time ritual to begin.

Yugi breathed in deeply, "what do we do when are awake?"

The children replied, "keep both eyes on the sky."

"What do we do when we sleep?" Yugi added.

"Keep one eye on the sky." The children echoed.

Malik licked his lips, "what do we do when we see them?"

"Dig hard, dig deep, run for shelter, never look back."

Yugi nodded, clapping his hands, "good, good. Well done! Bed time."

The groans rose once more and Yugi shook his head, "come on, bed time."

"Good night!" Malik rose as the children began to file out from their seats. They stood together as the small room became vacant, the echoing voices of the children dying away as they where lead off into the sleeping courters.

Yugi rubbed a hand through his hair, watching as Sol vanished as well, obviously taking heed to the bed time warning. The little boy was always so obedient, very rarely did he join the other children in activities, choosing instead to mingle with the adults and aid in chores he could do as a tiny little boy.

Malik yawned, giving a crack of his neck, "well, I'm calling it quits, night pip-squeak." The Egyptian tussled his head of hair playfully and Yugi groaned at the jib at his height. "Seeya in the morn."

"Yeah, you going to work on that fallen wall with me?"

"Count me in." Malik waved a hand, disappearing out of the room, leaving him alone. Yugi wandered around, blowing out the candles before picking up the last one to light his own way out. The walls where old, some displaying faded murals of medieval images. Once the castle had been the pride and joy of so many tourists but now it was a mess of a community struggling to survive. Richard was right, all the other communities around them had stopped communicating, Edinburgh had been burned to a crisp. It was really only a matter of time before they too were consumed.

"No," he whispered, "we have to survive."

He crept up the castle, moving towards his own room. Shifting in he noticed Sol had already tucked himself in. For a tiny little boy of five, he had the mannerisms of an adult.

Sol was almost like his son in a manner of speaking, he'd found the tiny, half starved boy on one of his dragon hunts. A torn up, terrified little toddler, starved and dying. He could have walked right past him, others obviously had but one look into the sorrowful large eyes, as purple as his own, caused him to stop. Without any regard to the lack of food and water he had, without caring of adding more strain to the community, he picked up the boy.

He'd been with him since. That'd been three years ago, Sol had survived, the boy had actually managed to survive.

The child had been unable to recall a name, so he'd named him Solomon, after his grandfather. Sol for short since shouting Solomon all the time had become a bother. Shout he often had to do, considering just how much trouble the tiny boy could get into. He'd pulled him out of the oddest of places. For a five year old, he was too small, to thin, too weak and to jolly fast. He was growing to be as sleek and slender as the man he called Dad, with the same wave of hair Yugi recalled his grandfather had owned, a wave of brown and a little bit of silver riddled throughout it, fringe perfectly blond and frazzled, crazy in a true, true Motou fashion. Maybe the boy was his grandfather, maybe the child had been born to remind him of the old man, to bring him some hope and someone precious to save and care for. He needed something precious to love, something to cuddle and to protect but most important, he needed someone to bring him back to reality.

Sol brought him back his sanity when he lost it, the child would clutch him, hug him, scream at him, tell him to come back from his hunting, to survive another day.

Yugi smiled tenderly as he brushed Sol's locks of blond fringe from his sleeping round face. He bent forward, gently kissing his forehead. The boy rolled around, giving a squatting movement, muttering something under his breath as he curled up tighter in the rolls of blankets.

Yugi ached for a moment, wishing he could give the boy a teddy or some kind of gift for being such a blessing, but he had nothing, just unconditional love and he supposed, when it truthfully matter, that was all the boy needed.

That and food and untainted water. As much as he wished it were true, a child could not live on love alone.

Standing back up Yugi pulled the curtain across the bed and moved towards his own, placing down the candle as he crawled his way into the indentation carved into the stonework. Tucking himself in he sighed in relief, his weary body allowing itself to relax for once during the day. Leaning over he blew out the candle and darkness surrounded him.

The inverted pyramid shined in the dim light as it fell against the bed cover, cooling the warm night air around him. Though the world was cold, for some reason, he could only ever remember being hot.

0000000

000

_It was a strange sensation._

_Like being pulled along by a thick rope that had become tied to his neck. When he was yanked upon, he had no use but to obey the calling and he followed the rope into a grey light of a muggy world that folded out around him as though he was walking through a passage. _

_Standing alone a figure was perched upon a road side, looking out across a small castle and its surrounding walls. It was a rundown rustic place was looked as though it was slowly wearing down. _

_Yami furrowed his brow, keeping his walk slow as he carefully approached the stranger within the dream._

"_Who are you?" Yami glanced around the strange new surroundings. Everything was grey, covered in ash and sodden with an over-powering feeling of despair. It was nothing like the community his father had built up. This place was a pit being held together only by the grit of its teeth._

_The young man looked just as startled to see him and it took a few moments for them both to realise the oddity of the situation. Neither of them where physically formed, instead Yami noticed he was floating above the ash coated ground. So was the stranger._

"_I could ask the same question." The young man eyed him darkly with purple eyes. Yami perked up an eyebrow, wondering what the face that he looked into would have looked like had it been washed clean of the dirt and grime that covered it. The body was obviously in good shape, though tiny in comparison to a man's natural size. He simply radiated strength with his stance, a dark, wary strength not unlike his own yet more controlled and centred. Something terrible had transpired within the life of the young man, something that had changed a care-free spirit into a hardened crust._

"_Well," Yami coughed politely, "I am Yami. Knight of Hedingham."_

"_Really, well I'm Santa Claus. Ho, ho, ho...."_

"_Sarcasm really don't suite you, little one."_

_The young man pouted suddenly, his mood switching as though a button had been pressed. "So I've been told." He whispered, "alright, fine, I'm Yugi Motou...I don't have a fancy title, they are of little use here."_

"_Where is here?" Yami glided over the stones._

"_Court yard I think." Yugi shrugged, then paused, tilting his head and blinking, "your hair..." He whispered, "You have three colours...like mine."_

"_Heh?" Yami touched his braid. "Yes, wait....you too?"_

_Considering the distance between them, their near identical appearances where suddenly slightly more obvious that before. Yugi gasped in surprised horror. He slapped his hands across his cheeks._

"_Your eyes! They're just like the dragons! What horrid nightmare are you. I'm actually imaging the Dragon as a human. I want you gone," pointing angrily the young man before him gave a tear stained shout; "I want you out of my head right now! Be gone monster, please, leave my dreams alone. Can't you just leave me alone!" _

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Yami jolted awake, feeling Bakura's firm hands shaking him madly. "Hey, hey, Temmy, wake up you idiot! You're dreaming."

Gasping Yami reached for the bottle of water by his bedside, fumbling for it before holding it to his lips and drinking the sweet liquid, ignoring that it was dribbling down his chin from the rate of its consumption. His body was on fire with a strange heat spreading from the tips of his toes all the way through his limbs. Groaning he rolled around, holding the palms of his hands to his eyes.

"Bakura...what the heck just happened?"

"How do I know, your shortness," the sneer snapped back, "but whatever it was had you stone dead to the world. Never known you to sleep that solid before, usually you're so alert but I swear, not even the warning horn would have stirred you up mate."

Yami furrowed his brow, slowly easing himself into a sitting position within his small bed within the sleeping hall. Bakura was sitting upon his own bed, hair ruffled from sleep. Everywhere else was quite, the lights dimmed to show it was still night.

"It was so weird." He whispered, rubbing at his sweaty bare chest, feeling the scars across his skin from battles, "I dreamed I was in this...other community, it was so different from our own. There was this young man, Yugi he called himself, Yugi Motou."

"Means game." Bakura licked his teeth, trying to wedge out leftover meat stuck between his fang like canines, "in Japanese I believe."

"Bakura, he accused me of being an alpha dragon." Giving a small, weird laugh of disbelief Yami looked to his friend, noticing the flashing of red in the knight's gaze. If he looked close enough, he could see the black slits, shaped like a dragons.

Neither of them tried to dwell upon it.

Why they had eyes so strangely non-human.

"Must be your fear bleeding through, you know dreams can be like that. Come on; let's get a run in before dawn breaks. I remember your Daddy wanted us to do that-"

"No..." Yami stalled him, "this wasn't like any other dream, Bakura...that young man..." turning his gaze towards the small window Yami whispered, "there was something about him."

His mind drew back to the dream. He'd noticed a gleam of gold, something that had looked out of place upon a rag-tag mashing of worn clothing. Gold was nothing rare yet the stranger had been wearing a strange looking pyramid dangling from a chain.

Yami touched his chest, swinging himself out of the bed and shaking his head.

"Yeah, your right, dreams...well, let's do that sparring match."

"Sweet." Bakura threw up his arms, "bring it on baby, bring it on."

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He felt something pressed to his dry lips as he stirred to life from his weary sleep. His eye lids fluttered.

The American accent of Joey rung in his ears. "Yugi, you alright little guy?" Joey knelt beside him, passing him a cup of water. He noticed Kala was worriedly watching him, the pretty brown haired young woman ringing at her home-spun dress.

He furrowed his brow in confusion. Where was he?

"Joey?" Pushing himself off something hard, that shifted under him, Yugi glanced around. He was in the court-yard of the castle, the grey sky of a new dawn just breaking through the sodden clouds.

"How the heck did I end up out here?" He blinked. He'd gone to sleep in his bed, he was sure of it.

"No idea, Yugi, do you sleep walk?"

"No." He denied.

"Well, you do now." Joey chuckled sadly, "hey, nice necklace." He motioned to the golden pyramid dangling freely around his neck from the slim chain. Yugi touched it carefully, stroking its cold sides.

"Alfred...gave it to me...ah...man, how weird." He snagged Joey's offered arm, allowing his friend to hoist him upright. Kala hugged his shoulders, throwing a wrap around him and tucking it into his shirt.

"You silly," she sighed. "You'll catch your death if you start sleep-walking out into the night."

Rubbing his head Yugi threw her a glare, "I don't sleep-walk."

"Okay," she smiled, "you came out here for a reason and fell asleep, I totally understand."

He rolled his eyes.

Joey chuckled, ruffling up his hair. "Yah cute little guy-."

"Dad! Dad!" Sol's voice broke across the court-yard and Yugi snapped around, watching as the boy ran down the stairs, waving his arms frantically.

"Sol, be careful, you'll trip over." Kala called out. The boy seemed to ignore her as he rushed towards them; he threw himself into Yugi's arms, crying loudly.

"Dad, its Mr. Richard! He's...he's gone! He's taken the Jeeps! Dad, he's gone harvesting."

"Shit." Joey swore.

Yugi trembled, "did he take any of the de-scenting equipment?" He whispered softly.

Sol paused, his childish mind thinking hard, causing his brow to furrow deeply, then slowly shook his head. "No."

Kala gasped, her hands slapping to her mouth, "my gosh, he didn't! The fool! Yugi-."

"We have to catch him before he gets too far and their scent catches the wind. Joey, get the spare jeep, Sol, go get my slayer gear, all of it! Kala honey, gather the children up and send out the warning! I have to tell Alfred and get Malik! Move people! MOVE!"

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_Tada! Another chapter. _

_A couple changes from the old one, so even if you read it before, I hope you re-read it carefully to pick things up._

_Thanks everyone, for reading and enjoying the story with me. _

_You have no idea how nice it is to have 'people to talk to' while being sick. I'm rather alone in my house (since my little sister now has a boyfriend and is never around, if she gets married before me, she owes me five bucks...chances are, she will, since I'm rather lacking in the ability to pick up men.)_

_Enjoy my friends!_

_The Writer Within._


	3. THC Book 1 Chapter 2

The Hedingham Chronicles

Book 1: Walk of Fire

By: T.W.W

**Chapter 2: Sink so far**

There was something wonderful about having an environmental dome that created their own weather to their desires. Yami knew he could have enjoyed contemplating the good day Seto Kaiba had planned for their community on the weather front, a bright spring day fluttered the leaves with a small trickle of a breeze, heralding the further comings of more days of the same temperature to follow.

However in his current position, the weather was the last thing he knew he should have been contemplating. The twin blades clanged against his claymore, shoving him back through the mud of the court yards tournament ring at the force of the blow.

Bakura's keen red eyes glared into his own with a sneer.

"What's the matter your highness, not in the mood for fighting today!"

"I'm always in the mood to kick your gluious maxmuis." Yami hissed through clenched teeth, wrenching himself away from the grip the twin blades had upon his board sword.

Bakura cackled a laugh as he twirled the keen swords, causing them to shine in the dim light of the midday glow.

"Being posh today are we." The white knight played, twirling his twin blades high, bringing them shattering down. Yami twisted to one side, skidding across the thick mud, feeling it stain his pants as his knee made contact with the ground. In expect grace of someone use to the shortness of stature Yami heaved his blade up and around.

Bakura's red eyes widened slightly as his twin blades vibrated from a crashing hit, the full weight of the young earl being thrust into forward. His grip to loosened.

In that single moment Yami's movement seem like a blur, the knight skipped to one side, lifting his sword and striking the butt of the hilt into Bakura's shoulder. The strength of the hit knocked the larger man to his knees.

Pointing his sword directly across the white knight's throat Yami panted heavily.

"Do you yield?"

"Damn, and I was so close to."

"Yield?"

"What'da think idiot, I'm on my knees."

"Good boy." Yami laughed, patting the knight's mop of hair and offering him an arm. Bakura snagged it near pulling his friend down. Yami hoisted him up, clapping him firmly over the back as they turned towards the group of spectators. They broke into applause, the younger children squealing as they dashed out into the mud, clustering around them.

Yami hoisted a small girl onto his shoulder as he allowed a smaller boy to grab his claymore and drag it across the ground with all the strength he could muster. His red eyes shined with cheer at the sight of the children around Bakura, tugging at his clothing and trying hard to clamber up his legs.

"Oi, oi, oi...enough already. I don't need you to pull my pants down you little sprites." The knight roared as two attached themselves to his arms and he lifted them from the ground with a single sweep. "Ah, you little things..." He groaned.

"If you can't fight them, join them." Yami chuckled. he lifted his head and noted his father approaching, beside him Seto's younger brother, a page in the court, Mokuba, was trotting along, trying hard to look his place beside the regal lord of the castle.

Very few people knew Mokuba's story, nor the reason for his constantly gloved hands. The truth was deeper than anyone in their ruined world could believe, that the boy's arms were actually robotic cybernetic limbs powered by a power source not even the people of the Before Time had been able to comprehend.

"A good fight my son," Atum smiled kindly through his bread of slightly greying black tussled over his broad barrelled chest. The coat of arms of their Keep was imprinted upon the man's robe, indeed it was imprinted upon the clothing of any member of their community. Whoever wore the crest of the Amir family fell under their protection; it was his father's wish that they'd be known across the lands as a place of refuge to any who sought it.

Yami slipped his head down in a small bow, honouring his father amongst the eyes of the children, knowing the display revealed to the children the chain of command that needed to be kept, even amongst their thriving community.

"Thank you father."

"Ahhh...Temmy, get the devils off me already!" Bakura cried madly.

All three pairs of eyes turned to watch the knight go down under the pile of children.

Atum erupted in a roar of laughter and Yami gave a faint smirk.

"Fancy that, Hedingham's greatest knight being overwhelmed by mere children." The Earl shook his head before clapping his hands firmly together.

"Children! I believe there is chocolate pudding being served in the great hall. If you're quick, you'll get some before the workers do!"

At the mention of the word chocolate every small pair of wide eyes turned directly towards the lord who gave a waving motion with his aging, worn hands. The squeal was near deafening as the mob tore away in laughter down the green arches of grass towards the main building of the castle, the glorious great hall.

Yami perked up and eyebrow as Bakura scrambled up, straightening his tunic and hair. "God's little children my left foot, they're like mini devils." He grumbled, coming to attention beside his friend as Atum eyed him.

"Good fight Bakura, you may one day overwhelm my son."

Bakura snorted, "I intend to."

"Don't encourage him father." Yami whispered, "his ego is already so huge." The young man skipped to one side as Bakura took a swipe at him, surprised when though he didn't make a hit Yami curled over in sudden agony.

"Temmy?" Bakura grabbed him in a rush of fright, "What the hell is wrong? Did I hurt-."

"No," Yami hissed between teeth, "I don't...know..." Blood leaked from his mouth; he bent forward, spitting it out onto the ground. He sensed his father's presence over him, touching his shoulder.

"Are you wounded?"

"No. Bakura didn't touch me!" He coughed the blood up, bending on all fours. "I it feels like I've been run through!"

"We'll get you into the castle." Atum bent forward, carefully hoisting his son up. "Thankfully, my boy, you weigh as much as your mother did."

"Thanks Father, I'll try and take that as a compliment." Wincing again Yami covered his mouth. His eye's caught Bakura's, noticing the red gleam in them had brightened somewhat as if something was transpiring behind the red pupils. The knight appeared in a daze, one he snapped out of quite suddenly. He took up Yami's claymore, throwing it across his back.

"Mokuba," he clapped the near-boy page-boy over the head, "go on ahead and tell Isis."

"Sure." The boy rushed off, waves of black hair tussling around his shoulders.

"Well," Bakura grumbled, "at least one Kaiba does as they're told."

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Yugi was seeing red. The stupidity, the idiocy, the sheer foolery of the man, that Richard, to dare go outside of the compound without de-scenting equipment, to harvest food not ready for harvest. "Richard," Yugi growled as he ran up the stairs to the high point of the castle, ignoring all who got in his way, "you are a dead man! If the dragon doesn't get you, by golly, I sure will!"

Ryou was by his medicine table, scribbling down notes.

Yugi ignored him as he slammed open the double doors into the healer's courters.

Squeaking in fright Ryou twisted out of his chair, watching as Yugi stormed past him towards the chamber that held Lord Alfred.

"Yugi! You can't go in, Father is unwell-."

"Richards left the compound without de-scenting equipment; he's gone to harvest the crops!" Yugi shouted over his shoulder, leaving Ryou standing in shock.

The white haired young man gasped suddenly in horror, "oh, by God, we're dead. No...no...no. Yugi! No, this isn't happening! Yugi!" Hoisting up his white robe he dashed after the young man, into the warm, comforting chamber of his father's bedroom. Malik stood at the sudden intrusion, the book he had been reading to the ill man upon the bed slipping off his lap.

"Yugi? Ryou? What is it? Alfred isn't well enough for-."

Yugi pushed a finger into Malik's face, "shut up."

The Egyptian closed his mouth quickly as Yugi spun towards Alfred.  
"Forgive me, sir, but Richard has gone to harvest without de-scenting equipment."

The aged man raised his brow, "and what do you wish of me?"

Yugi spread his hands, "give me permission, sir, to do what I must to protect this community."

"You need my permission?" Alfred carefully raised himself, his weakened, skin and bone arms trembling as he sat up. Ryou dashed forward, aiding the dying man with tender hands.

Yugi bowed his head, "yes. I do."

Alfred gave a weak smile, but it broke away the moment an outside voice penetrated the conversation.

"Dad! Dad! Dad!" Sol's high-pitched squeals broke through their conversation. Yugi twisted around, surprised to see the boy running through the door into the lord's chamber. The lad knew well enough that the area was never to be entered.

He had such wild guts for a tiny child.

"Solomon? I thought I told you to grab my dragon hunting gear-."

Sol's large, purple eyes shimmered faintly with the sign of slowly growing tears. "I know, but it's not there."

Yugi stared. "What?"

"It's not there. Someone took your key and the gear. They broke into our room; they even took my dragon whistle!"

"How dare he threaten my community." Yugi clenched his hands into fists. "Doesn't he realise anything? My dragon gear is all we bloody have! I don't just kill dragons with my bare hands!"

"Yugi Motou!" Alfred's weakened voice became firmer, the dying old man pointing at the youth beside the bed. "Contain your anger or it will control you! Now, what are you waiting for, go and find Richard, bring him back for trial."

Yugi closed his eyes for a moment, centring upon the inverted pyramid dangling around his neck, how cool it felt to his hot, blazing skin. Malik's hand touched his bare shoulder, giving it a tight squeeze.

"Come on Yugi."

The young man nodded, turning towards Sol, he bent, dusting back to the boy's wild locks of brown, silver hair. "Sol, stay with Ryou."

"But I want to come with you!?"

"Best if you stay here Sol, if you're out there with me, I can't think, okay. I need to think, I might have to kill a dragon and I don't want you there. You need to stay here and protect the community."

Slowly the boy backed down, nodding. Yugi tweaked the lads nose fondly before darting after Malik, down the twisting stair case. In the court yard Joey already had the gear ready, the two fire trucks and their armoured vehicle. It was already decided, Richard would bring down a Dragon upon them. Yugi set his jaw.

"Time to slay a dragon..." He slipped on a helmet, slapping down the visor, "bring me hell!"

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The crops where situated away from the community. Maintaining too much in one area attracted attention and good soil, untainted soil, was hard to find. If it was found, it had to be used wherever it was. The drive to the crops felt like hours, though it truthfully was only a fifteen minute high-speed rage down the barely used path across the moors of the ash tainted waist-lands that hid the community.

Yugi could feel his heavy breathes; they raged in his chest, the fire burning even as he gripped the metal of the jeep in a vice grasp. Without de-scenting equipment, Richard would call a dragon; it was as simple as that.

Their lives were simple. Hide, wait, live.

The jeep speared to one side as Malik slammed the breaks, howling them across the gravel. Yugi leapt off the still moving vehicle as it slid to a stop, running through the rows of corn and tomatoes.

"Richard! Richard! You bastard." He slammed into a youth, a young man, one of the teens of the community. He snagged him, throwing him into the ground, furious that one of their young had been convinced that betraying the entire community for food, "where is Richard!?"

"Yugi...sir-."

"Don't 'sir' me, where is Richard, why did you believe him?"

"He...he...he threatened us, he said...he'd tell you we'd been slacking off work and stealing rations. He...he said if you found out you'd kick us out of the community!"

Yugi blinked back tears, "do you think I'm that awful, that I'd hurt you for just being a typical teenager. Nathi, I wouldn't ever kick you out unless you where threatening everything and everyone, slacking of work and stealing a couple bars of protein isn't going that far! Now, this...this gets you someplace else. Richards a fool!"

A laugh barked through the corn crops and Yugi gripped the teen under him tighter, flicking his gaze around the twisting tall storks, waiting, listening. The heavy press of boots upon the soil caught his attention and he twisted around, spotting the man who'd caused all the trouble in the first place.

"A man's gotta do what he's gotta do to keep his family alive, Yugi Motou." Richard threw down the bag of gathered supplies he held, pulling out a knife from around his belt. Yugi glared at the knife, seeing it keen edge, its perfectly crafted shape. It was his knife, from his dragon slaying collection.

Yugi dropped the teen, kicking him and watched from the corner of his eye as the kid scrambled away, forgetting what he'd gathered.

"I agree, therefore, please don't tell Satan I killed you out of vile disgust when you meet him. I will do what I must to keep my family alive...you, Richard, where a part of that family! I loved your wife, Grace, she knew the meaning of our community. I protected your children, Gloria with her cute little curls, Samson with his loud mouth, even when he beat Sol for being short, I did not return the favour but this...this Richard...if you'd just taken the de-scenting equipment I might have let you go."

"There hasn't been a dragon sighting in nearly eight months-."

"Why do you think that is!?" Yugi shouted, "because every week I go out and I make sure they know a Slayer is here. What do you take me for Richard! A fool? You...you've brought Tribulation down upon us with your irrational stupidity."

The man's features contorted, he twirled the blade in his hand, "don't blame me for this, it's your fault."

"My fault, I'm standing here without any of my dragon slaying equipment, praying to God that you're going to stand down before a freaking female dragon in heat comes roaring up, all happy that she can smell ash! Ash that you and your little party have been kicking up by disobeying our community's rules..." Yugi's voice trailed off, his eyes averting slightly, a tingling reaching down to his toes.

He didn't need to hear the roar, he knew moments before, the shift in the air, the scent of its chemicals mixing together to bring the heat of enraged flames. With a backward throw he landed upon the ground, Richard atop him; the man seemingly taking the moment of detraction as a window. Yugi grasped the wrist that held the knife as it stung the skin across his throat. Richard's heavier body pinned him to the soot covered ground with his weight as the dragon's roasting breath blasted the corps surrounding them into ash.

Yugi kicked, scissoring his legs apart and thrusting Richard upwards, throwing in him into the burning bushes. The man stumbled, hitting the ground. Yugi twisted on his heels, yanking free the belt holding up his pants; running for the dragon's twirling tail. The winged lizard whiplashed the nearest truck across the ground, blasting it with an eruption of heat, causing the petrol tank to explode. Yugi ducked, swung up and caught the tail, pulling his belt down the scales, tearing flesh off as he was dragged downward.

The dragon's attention swung his way, its triangular head turned in one direction to eye him a single eye and slowly it backed away, hissing, spitting and yet not erupting in a whirl-wind of fire.

Yugi twirled his belt, the hum resonating in the air, "that's right, sweetie, I am a slayer, you know that...and you will stay away from my home."

"It is not just your home!" The gravelly voice, spoken through the voice-box he was sure he'd broken spoke like a whisper in his ear. He jerked around, turning to face Richard as the man thrust an iron stake upward, piecing him straight through.

Yugi gasped as he felt it slide easily into his body and out the other side. He looked at his killer face on, staring in gaping awe that the man had even done it. Richard's skin was pale in shock, his hands trembling from the effort of the thrust, blood staining them as it dribbled down from the gaping wound.

Yugi grasped the iron rod.

"You...son of a..." Splattering blood as it leaked from his mouth Yugi made a grasp for the knife in his fingers. Richard had a second to note the movement, but shifted to slow as Yugi swung the blade, hacking it through the man's neck with inhuman strength.

He dropped onto the ash covered ground. Yugi slumped forward, the pike through his middle slackened as he collapsed. Joey's voice drummed in his ears, followed by the feeling of Malik grabbing him from behind, tearing the large iron pole from his chest.

The pain flared like fire in his veins and he coughed blood, his vision blurring. Something was smothering him, the fire becoming doused in freezing coolness that spread from one centre. The dangling inverted pyramid around his neck.

He felt it pulse; he knew he cried aloud as the skin and muscles rapidly repaired, sealing over, leaving him lying upon the ground in a pool of blood. The cool feeling of ice remained and he sighed, loving the feeling that froze the burning in his vein.

"Yugi! Yug, man...Yugi...talk to me bud...come on, talk to me." Joey's voice nibbled at the comfort in his soul, the feeling of completion. He groaned, pulling himself out of the daze, shoving himself to up and staring at the staining on his shirt, the ash that fell. His eyes briefly touched Richards limp body, lying in a halo of blood.

"The dragon." Yugi launched himself at Joey, "Where is the dragon!" He grabbed the American, "where the hell is the dragon Joseph Wheeler...where is the dragon?"

The blond spluttered no words. Yugi grasped the pole that had been thrust through him, using it to hoist himself upright as in answer to his question a distant rumble of a dragon's throaty roar, over the crest of the hills.

"No..." Yugi's touched his mouth, giving a sob, "not...oh no, no, no, no, no!" Ignoring Joey's shouts Yugi ran through the burned and smouldering ruins of the crops, hearing the sound of pursuit. Malik caught up with him, the face of the Egyptian white in horror.

They both glanced at each other, no words needed to be said to express the fear.

Yugi lunged at jeep and launched himself into the driver's side, igniting the engine and grasping the wheel, spinning it into a twirl through the ash and dust.

"Yug! How are you alive?" Joey shouted over the roaring as they sped through the black of ash in the air.

"I don't know and I really don't care right now Joey," throwing the yell behind him at the American, Yugi slammed his foot down onto the acceleration. The jeep roared to life, throwing them forward as it tore down the dirt road. Yugi felt the inverted pyramid thump and twist against his chest, the cool touch he felt against his skin from its golden surface soothing, even in the moment his heart was racing, and his mind screamed at him to spur him on faster.

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Kala hoisted up her dress, cursing it for being so long as she rushed her way up the long spiral stair-case of the compounds castle area. The horn of warning and been blasted, at a frequency dragons could not hear but humans could. To say panic had struck was a slight understatement, she'd managed amongst the chaos to gather the children into the protective shielding underground, hoping that the eldest of them would wait until the clear signal to escape onto the plains where the half-made bunkers would shelter them for a time. She was knocked down as a man brushed past; her already aching wrist catching her full weight upon the stairs.

"Oie, watch it!" She shouted back and gathered herself up once more, glaring at the man, noticing he bore a pack over his shoulder. She thinned her eyes, typical of some of the men to run and not protect the community.

"Shut up, whore!" He bellowed.

Kala winced as Ryou suddenly stepped out from the door into his healer's office, holding out a small golden pistol. The healer fired the shot, knocking the man flat with a bullet through the skull. The white cloaked young man rushed to the limp body, gathering up the bag and searching, pulling out a worn book.

"I warned you, steal from my stores and a bullet in the skull is what you'll get in return."

Kala shivered and cowered backwards, covering her chest in her arms. Ryou flicked his head upwards, glancing to a nearby window as a ranging roar filled the skies. The healer dropped flat, splitting his robe in the movement as the window shattered, fire combusting through the staircase.

The furious flames raged and Kala screamed. Ryou threw out a hand, swelling up ice from the Ring around his neck, breaking the fire. He rushed forward and grabbed for Kala to drag her around the bend, shoving through the doors as the heat burned the castle walls. The young woman screamed as she was thrown against the floor, Ryou's strength strangely stronger than she'd ever imagined.

"Father!" Ryou banged on the door adjacent to his healing chamber. "Father! We have to go, a dragon-."

The door burst open, fire casting the young man back onto the floor, shattering his healing room in a burst of flames. Ryou threw up his hands, willing a shield of ice to form, spilling out from the Ring around his neck. Kala stared in awe at the blue shine of frozen water crusted over them as the red flames licked and consumed the once beautiful room of the healer.

Ryou fought back tears as he scrambled around. He sized her arm in a vice grip and backed towards the door.

"Come on," he slapped her backside to send her forward, kicking her into action, "move yourself woman! We have to get out!"  
"But your father?" She inhaled, coughing smoke.

"It's too late. Kala you will move or I will throw you over my shoulder, move!"

They skidded down the twisting stair well, flames licking at their heels as they ran. Screams echoed. Ryou shoved Kala through a door, pointing, "get to the gate! I have to find the children."

"Ryou let me come-."

"No, get to the gate and get it open! Please, Kala! Please." He touched her cheek, "this isn't the old twenty-first century anymore, it's the new, you're a woman and it is still my place as a man to make sure you are safe. Please, for once, be a damsel in distress. Go, get the gate open, get out of here, get out!"

She nodded and staggered out. Ryou darted back into the smoke, yelling into the burning, smouldering ruins. "Solomon! Sarah! Abi, Nale! Peter!"

The children were all the community had to give to the future. Drowning out screams and the roaring of a dragon Ryou shattered through doors with a swelling of ice particles, thrusting the energy from the Ring forward. He wept cold, freezing tears every step he took further into the super heated castle that crumbled around him. All their planning to fight a dragon, to keep the community safe, none of it had worked. How stupidly foolish were they to believe they could match a beast of the fiery pits of hell.

Someone cried in return to his voice and Ryou jerked around, gasping as Sol scrambled out from behind a crumbled wall, bright, frightened eyes wide in horror.

"Ryou. Ryou! The berth, it collapsed! Into the ground, the tunnels all collapsed! The water was too much pressure!" Sol coughed from the smoke. "Everyone...they're all..." Beginning to sob Sol curled up. Registering the words and spurring into action Ryou grabbed the boy.

"Solomon, oh thank God you're alive." Ryou hid him under his robe. The flames hissed, shattering a near-by wall. Hoisting Sol's tiny, shivering form over his shoulder Ryou scrambled down the passage, passing the dead bodies lying scattered and burning.

Above, echoing all around, trembling the ground under his feet the roar of the dragon rumbled. Tumbling out of a door Ryou watched as the flames engulfed it. He twisted on his heels, pushing through the ash, panting heavily as the burning pain in his chest tightened each muscle of his body. Ahead he spotted through blurred vision, Kala's form beside the compound gates. He dashed past her, out into the waste-land.

"We have to find cover." Ryou skidded to a stop, shaking as he glanced back to the aflame castle, "now!"

"The graves." Kala whispered, "we can hide in the grave-yard..."

"To close."

"Somewhere down wind." Ryou scanned the horizon. "Come with me, I know a place." He sized her hand, "hurry."

Together they scurried low to the ground and headed into the mist. Ryou whispered softly to the small boy tucked into his robe. "Cover your ears, Sol," the healer tightened his hold upon the child, "don't listen to the screams...please...cover your ears."

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The jeeps wheels spun and struggled for traction upon the uneven, gravelly dirt. Yugi snapped it into another gear and the vehicle protested at the treatment. They burst over the top of a ridge, skidding down the side. Yugi slammed his foot upon the breaks, lurching them all forward for a moment, but their eyes stayed focused upon the vision welcoming them home.

Smoke mushroomed from the crumbling community, the old castle cracking from the combustion of heat of raging fires.

"Dear Ra, please no." Malik leapt from the jeep, "please...please...I beg you no!" He ran across the ground, his eyes watching as the castle burned, flames' licking from the windows as air was eaten, erupting in splattering gusts. He slid to his knees, sensing Joey and Yugi coming up beside him.

Yugi stood trembling, his blood stained hands shaking as he slid down to join Malik on the ash covered ground. They winced as the roar sounded, the shimmering form of an elegant dragon raged through the flames, coming to perch itself upon the top crumbling tower, its long neck tilted to the sky in victory.

Every muscle in his tightly tuned body went lax from the sight, "No...Sol..." Yugi buried his head into his knees, giving a cry, "the children...Ryou...Kala..."

"Yug! Yug! Look its Ryou. Its Sol! KALA!"

Yugi jerked up as Joey snagged him around his blood stained tunic, hoisting him upright and throwing him forward. He staggered, looked up and gasped in surprise and relief, his body becoming light with the sensation of sheer liberation.

Tears flooded his eyes as he was suddenly hit by a small boy, scrambling into his arms. Yugi gave a small laugh, kissing the dirty, blood stained face, knowing that it was real.

"Thank you." He whispered to the heavens, "thank you..." He pressed his forehead to Sol's, holding back a sob as the small boy hugged him tightly around the neck, weeping openly. Carefully he picked the boy up, holding him tightly, kissing his cheeks in a rain of affection.

He turned to Ryou as the healer approached, with a slight limp to his walk. His long robe was burned, his hair blackened with coal and stained with the shimmer of red blood. Yugi looked towards him, noticing the sign of tear stains trailing down his cheeks in clean lines through the soot and dirt.

Kala ran up, throwing herself upon Malik, holding him tightly as she trembled. He smiled feebly in aching relief, giving her a strong hug before she turned to Joey, doing the same.

Malik glanced to Ryou, his gaze questioning the healer without words.

"The dragon got away from Yugi...it must have spotted the community and known...damn, I have no idea...this...got out of hand really quickly. Ryou..." Malik closed his eyes, pressing Kala close, "we failed." He choked, "we failed."

"No," Ryou shook his head, "We are alive." He breathed out, "as long as we are alive we can continue to live. You have the jeep? My gosh, Yugi, what happened?!" Ryou freaked suddenly as Yugi came up beside him.

The young man glanced down at the hole through his leather shirt, stained with thick red blood. Sol was touching the visible skin through it, stroking the tight muscles in silent curiosity. Yugi grabbed at the boy's tiny hand, kissing the scrapped knuckles and passing him to Joey upon the Jeep.

"Richard ran a pole through my chest."

"I see that, but I don't see any bloody hole and a dead best friend?"

"The inverted pyramid glowed and the wound closed over." Yugi shrugged casually as though he was telling something as plain as the weather, "I missed the dragon though, if the idiot hadn't struck me I would have got to the dragon! Damn, this my fault. They're all dead...I...I didn't-.."

Joey slapped him over the head, "it ain't your fault you loony, this ain't anyone's fault, it ain't even Richards. He was only doing what he felt was right, for his children. Blame the bloody dragons Yugi, you ain't the one who runs around burning and eating ash. Come on, we gotta get outta here...somewhere down wind. Find a place to stay and rest. Yugi, yer lost blood, I don't care about any voo doo pyramid thingy, yer still lost blood. You need to rest!"

"Okay, okay..." Yugi nodded, "Kala, get in the Jeep." Yugi grabbed her as she trembled, her eyes infused upon at the burning castle. He gripped her cheeks, pulling her down for a forceful kiss upon the forehead. "Get in the Jeep Kala, don't you look back. Don't look back."

She nodded slowly, allowing the young man to heave her onto the old vehicle. Yugi ran around the front as Joey started the engine.

"I don't know how much petrol we've got in the back but it's better than being on foot." He muttered.

"Wait." Yugi paused and turned slightly, his eyes scanned for something. "I'll be back in a sec."

He ran back.

The Jeep rattled to life and Joey shoved it into gear behind him. Yugi reached for the large, iron pole he'd discarded in his terror at finding his home burning, the one he had felt being shoved through his chest. Even now he could still feel it sliding in, coming out the other side.

He shivered as he sized it. For a normal man he knew it would have weighted more, that it would have been near impossible for him to bear it so easily. He ignored that nibbling fact as he hoisted it up; glaring at his own blood that still stained the sharp tip. Something inside him changed, the moment he'd been ripped apart, the pyramid had protected him. An ancient, strange artefact that his grandfather had died to find had saved him.

But for what reason why he be saved only to watch his only home burn asunder?

Solemnly he stared back towards the burning castle. Their community was gone, the people he'd tried so hard to protect becoming ash for the consumption of the starving dragon. His hands clenched, his finger nails drawing blood as he watched the shadowed figure of the looming beast claw its way through the ruin as it burned.

"Enjoy your feast," he hissed, "because I will kill you." Twirling the large poll he swung it over his shoulders, hooking both arms over the iron as he wandered away towards the jeep.

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Ryou's fingers were cold as they prodded against his bare chest to feel for any internal damage. Yugi peered down his nose at the albino whose face was contorted in confusion, "so, doctor, am I going to live?"

With a posh huff Ryou shook his head, "you're telling me," he looked to Joey, ignoring Yugi all together, "that an iron pole was shoved straight through his chest...all the way through?"

"I'm telling it straight Doc, all the way through...then the voo doo started and Yugi just stood up and ran. Like those times you make ice form out of nothing with your Ring thingy that you don't like people seeing...only Yug here, he ain't stuffing his pretty gold thingy away like you do yours."

"Oh put a cork in it Joseph." Ryou muttered. He turned back around to glare at Yugi.

"Father was right then, to give you the pyramid."

"It's not a pyramid if it's inverted...upside down, is it?" Joey spoke suddenly.

Yugi sighed, lying back on the tussles of his torn shirt under his head. Sol was gently patting his hair. Yugi smiled faintly at the boy before tipping his head to look at the entrance to the small cave they'd discovered. He was exhausted, his body ready to fall into a deep, deep sleep and with Sol stroking his hair in the manner he was, he was very quickly finding his eye-lids dropping. The inverted pyramid slipped off his chest as he rolled around, ignoring Ryou's protesting and smiling as Joey pulled the healer away.

He was almost inclined to thank the American for dragging Ryou into a new conversation, letting him collapse into the abyss of nothingness. Sweet, sweet nothingness.

Or so it seemed then and there.

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_The last thing Yami could remember was lying in his father's arms, being carried into the Keep to be settled upon a bed with the healer's chambers. The moment his head had hit the pillow the pain in his chest had flared, casting him into a haze of grey, like the falling of ash._

_Now he stood within the strange world between worlds. Every step he made upon the crumbling ground echoed as though his shoes had soils of iron. The grey horizon shimmered and he blinked tears away, brushing at his blond fringe as it fluttered over his features from a non-existent wind._

"_It's you again." _

_Yami heard the voice, soft and sad this time. He glanced around, noticing the drifting ghostly form akin to his own, slowly walking towards him through the falling ash. It was Yugi, if he recalled the name correctly. It was almost as odd as his own name, how could he forget such a name, a name that sounded so simple but held such a puzzle behind it._

"_Apparently." Yami mused, surprised his voice sounded so muffled as though they both stood in a tight hallway and yet around them was a vastness of endless nothing._

"_I think I'm going insane, dragon, this is the second time I've dreamed of you and I am not a dreaming person." The young man muttered bitterly._

_Yami stared at him, noting he wore no shirt, his pale skin riddled in awful scars, scars that had dared to mar such pure, smooth skin as though he'd been hand-crafted out of marble by the ancient artists he'd read about often. _

"_I am not a dragon." He managed the words, tearing his gaze away from the youths torn shoulders._

"_Your red eyes tell me otherwise. I know those eyes-."_

"_I am not a dragon." Yami stood, the rocks he'd sat upon kicked up and floated around him, ignoring gravity, "I assure you, I am human. I am a knight, I fight dragons."_

_Yugi shrugged his shoulders. _

"_Fine. Whatever." He waved a hand. "You're not real so it doesn't matter. I really can't care right now..." The young man turned away._

_Yami gave a small shout, "wait! Don't go. Please...I don't understand, why I keep dreaming of you."_

"_I told you, I'm dreaming of you."_

"_Then I too am in the same predicament." Yami insisted._

"_People don't just wander into each other's dreams." Yugi jerked around, noticing the knight had begun to approach him, closing the gap between them. They stood a foot apart, one watching the other keenly. Their height had little difference. Yami noticed that he stood only ever so slightly taller, yet to their shapes and lean figures, even their hair in its odd shades, was akin._

"_But," Yugi whispered, touching the strange golden pyramid around his neck, "maybe dragons do." _

_Yami threw his arms skyward, "I told, I am not a dragon!"_

"_Shut up." Yugi snapped, "I told you, I'm not in the mood. My home just got attacked and burned to a crisp; I've had an iron pole shoved through my chest. I'm dead tired and you're freaking invading my personal space!"_

_They both stepped apart at the last comment._

"_I'm sorry." Yami whispered as Yugi panted, rubbings his hands through his tussles of tri-coloured hair._

"_Fat lot of good that does me." The young man cursed, "imaginary illusions always feel sorry." _

"_How can I prove to you that I am real?" Yami whispered, "and that this is something amazing."_

"_Alright, if you're real, how do you know I'm not a figment of your imagination? Heh?" _

_Yami noticed the perking of an eyebrow, a habit he had also gained over the years. The young man was mimicking his movements and everyday stances without batting an eyelid. _

_He thought for a moment, rubbing his chin, feeling the slightly growing stubble forming upon it._

"_I live in a world where dragons rule...anything is possible."_

"_Wow," Yugi sarcastically drooled out, "I'd love to have that kind of belief system."_

"_Back to my original question, how do I prove my existence to you...and that I am not a dragon."_

"_You are a dragon," Yugi snapped, "red eyes...I hate your red eyes."_

"_I cannot change them, but I am not a dragon."_

"_How do you know?"_

"_Do I look like a winged lizard to you?"_

"_No." Clicking his tongue Yugi gave the man a once over._

"_Then I am not a bloody dragon, I have killed dragons before, I am a knight, I protect what I care for. I don't eat ash, I don't go burning down cities. I am a human. Look at us, we are akin in nearly every way...do you not think this is odd."_

"_Yes," Yugi rolled his eyes, "hence the whole," he twiddled his fingers in the air, "you are not real thing." Suddenly the young man jerked his head around, his brow furrowed._

"_What is it?"_

"_Someone is trying to wake me." Yugi whispered, "how odd...if this was a dream wouldn't I just wake up and not feel someone shaking me." He thought for a moment then turned away, giving a back handed wave, "guess I'll see you later then, dragon."_

"_I am not a dragon!" Yami shouted into the vanishing ghostly form, watching it whiff away into the falling ash around them. He cursed under his breath._

"_Unbelievable..." He gripped his hands into fists, hissing. "Why am I dreaming of you...and is this," he glanced around the strange world, "even a dream?"_

_He paused, recollecting something and slowly he touched his chest, "wait...he said...he had a pole through his chest." Yami touched his mouth, his mind racing, "I need to wake up."_

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The jolt was sudden. He was awake. Finding himself lying in the sun-baked healing chambers run by their resident healer, upon a bed of smooth cotton, the fabrics around him smelling of sweet herbs and species. The sunlight was a promise of a warm summer, tickling his skin, reminding him of Egypt's blazing heat.

Yami flinched, recalling the pain, the blood and the sensation of being carried by his father.

"Ah, you are finally awake my lord."

Yami perked up an eyebrow at the sound of the gentle voice. He twisted around, spotting a woman walking towards him from between the other beds set up in the hospital like chamber.

Isis's smile was comforting; the beautiful, dark haired woman making gliding movements as she walked to the bed, easing herself down upon the mattress, making sure her weight wouldn't cause a jarring movement. As a younger boy he'd always found her to be intimidating in her sheer beauty. A proud gypsy looking woman, with a robust form draped in fluttering, heavy robes for the cold chilled mornings and rain sodden days. Somewhere, under the robes he knew she'd been scarred, a blemish had been created on the day she'd lost her gypsy tribe to a dragons rage.

Even now, he could see the sadness in the lines of her face. No man could console her, they'd all given up trying. It seemed, truthfully, that only death would bring her peace. Yet she continued to live, to care and guide them in the ways of her people.

A smile touched her luscious lips and Yami blushed, ducking his attention away as she wiped at his brow with a sweet smelling, cool flannel.

"Your father has been very anxious and quite frustrated that I could give him no answer to your illness."

"I'm not ill." Yami murmured. He eased himself upright and touched his bare chest, trying to feel for anything oddly wrong with him but nothing was out of order. His hands glided over thick, firm muscles, strong and robust from welding heavy iron weapons and lugging armour. For all he lacked in height, he'd forcefully made up for in other areas.

Isis laughed as she bent forward to kiss his forehead. "Tell me, what did you dream?"

Yami flinched backwards. "How did you...know I was dreaming?"

She shrugged, "so you where."

He loosened his shoulders, sighing loudly and taking hold of the mug she passed to him, sipping on the warm contents. "Alright, you caught me."

"I always do." She stood, drifting back to a table and beginning to pluck herbs out of a small garden box outside an open window. Yami glanced at the day outside, noting that upon the green law of the court-yard the preparations of the festival of life where being kicked into production. It was typical of his father to call up a festival to brighten the faces of his people.

"Isis...I keep seeing someone, inside this world of nothing and yet the world feels like it should be something. We're in some kind of between state, a place placed over a place."

She didn't turn from her work, grinding together the herbs, causing the room to smell sickly sweet.

"He's me, Isis. At least, he looks so much like me, albeit, smaller if you could believe that. Thinner, more...lethal...more...fragile and...beautiful...it's like I'm looking at a mirror or an alternate version of myself. Is that even possible?"

Isis turned slightly, her large hips tipping to one side as she peered over her shoulder. Yami raised an eyebrow, noting she was staring at him oddly, yet not at him, but his red eyes.

"What is possible and what is impossible depends upon your belief in impossible things."

"His name is Yugi Motou."

"He has a name." It was not a question, more of a statement, as if she'd been expecting it.

"Yes." Yami glared through his fringe, "and he thinks I'm a dragon. Keeps accusing me of being something I'm not. He is bitter and angry and in so much pain." His hands glossed over his chest once more, "Isis...in my dream, he said someone speared him through the chest."

If his words had taken her interest she showed no sign of moving from her current task.

"Am I really dreaming Isis?"

"That, my young lord, is for you to decide..." She placed down her work, reaching for a cotton garment. She flung it towards him. "Go to your father, he is worried. Tell him, if you wish, of your dreams, for he may have answers."

Yami carefully slid out of the bed, testing his strength before standing and slipping the shirt over his head. "Thank you, Isis." He called as he left, listening to her soft laughter at his departure.

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Yami tugged at the cotton shirt as he darted his way through the corridors of the Keep, smiling in passing greeting to the busy members of the community working on the up-coming annual festival and knight tournament his father run for the neighbouring communities spread across the vast, lonely landscape of the dragon scarred land.

"Morning ladies." He called out to the gathering of young women working on the shimmering wall hangings, taken from some old library, a gift to his father by a travelling group of monks who had wished for sanctuary after their monastery had been burned. The ancient wall hangings had been saved from the dragons, so much from the before time had survived but Hedingham carried as much as was possible and their treasures continued to grow.

A young woman, blond hair bouncing around her bare shoulders, glanced around, smiling gracefully in greeting as she dusted her hands upon the fabric of her hand sown dress. "Morning milord, can we aid you?"

"Looking for my father, you haven't seen him by any chance, Mai?" Yami paused, happy to watch the women and study for a moment the clothes they'd made especially for the festival preparations when men from across the country would begin to visit.

It was a time of forgetting the dragons that reigned over them, a time of joy and merry making. Stories would be told in the great hall underground, tales shared by the travelling monks and bards, information swapped on which cities could no longer be visited, where to find petrol, oil and to plant new crops. Who was seeking for oil, and who'd given up trying, and his favourite past time, who was new in the dragon hunting business to join his band of merry knights? It was all a good cheerful time and his father had been wise to begin such a tradition, proving just how much of a leader he was.

The single women of the community would begin each year designing new wardrobes just for the fortnight festival, hoping to catch the eye of a travelling knight, coming to win favour with the Earl. He couldn't help but admire the beauty of women during the period though inwardly he knew they'd lose a number of them to wandering travellers or other communities when they did find the love they sought so dearly.

"Try the yard; I believe he was with some of the children and younger men trying to raise the poles for the windmill dancing." Mai patted the large hanging in her hands, puffing up dust. Yami blinked at the blond, raunchy woman who in another life before the dragons he was sure held the feminist movement of the old twenty-first century.

"Thanks Mai."  
"I get payment!?" She shouted.

Yami spun around on his heels, pointing to her. "I'd give you a kiss, but you're just too darn tall! Find me a block to stand on will you!" He didn't wait around for her laugher nor the giggles of the other women around the corridor as he ran towards the doors leading into the court yard outside. He broke open the large wooden doors, peering out into the bright day, feeling the cool chill bite at his bare arms.

The blond hairs riddling his arms and chest freckled from the cold breeze and he brushed at them, shivering as he descended the stairs down into the green pastures of the inner bailey. From this position he could tilt his head up and look directly upwards towards the towering Keep, the only part of their entire community that was visible, the rest remanded underground.

Gleeful, happy shouts echoed from the area being set up for the stools and games, colour flags fluttered in the breeze, displaying the crests of visiting knights or the prayers of travelling monks and bards. He tucked the collar of his shirt tight around his neck and ran across the green grass, his shoes sinking into the soft, moist ground, making squishing sounds that would delight even the youngest of children or the eldest of adults.

Shoving past a tent, Yami spotted the children and some of the youth busily wedging the dancing poles into the allocated dug out holes. His father was aiding a bunch of them, laughing in his hearty manner as the pole wobbled around, its colourful ribbons fluttering in the faces of the children. Ducking around Yami grabbed the other side, steadying it as one of the teens quickly shovelled dirt into the hole to steady it. The children broke into cheers, the girls grabbing the ribbons and dancing in victory. Yami grinned, the sound of laughter a welcome treat amongst the trying times.

He sensed his father's hand press to his shoulder.

"Good to see you up and about."

"Thank you father, if you are finished here, would mind speaking with me?"

Atum gave a mild chortle, rubbing the young man's head of head, causing the children to giggle at the treatment the heir to their Keep was receiving.

"Come along, we'll head to my chambers. Continue your games, children, practise makes perfect and you girls dance so lovely!" Atum patted their heads, "what little beauties you'll all grow to be. Which one of you is going to marry my son?"

Hands were quickly thrown into the air. Atum grinned, "well you can't all marry him."

Yami shook his head, his smile wide as the Earl motioned him away, the children breaking into giggles, the festivities giving them all the more reason to enjoy their childhood.

"Looks like Seto's given us a week or two of good weather." Atum rubbed at his bread, "you'll have to make sure he gets dragged out of that techno-wizz-bang room of his some point during the feasts." The Earl shoved open the large wooden doors into the Keep and Yami slipped into after him.

"I'll try father, but you know Seto, he lives for his machines." They took the stair well upwards into the higher levels of the Keep, stepping to one side as a monk hurried past, bearing scrolls under his arms. Atum watched worriedly, raising an eyebrow, "hope he doesn't trip down the stairs. Can you remind me to inquire about getting carpet put on these things?"

"Father, we don't have the resources to make more carpet...we already decked out the stair well down to the great hall..."

"Hmm, yes, yes, I know." Atum sighed, waving to the scurrying maidens and busy workers mingling through the halls as they both wandered towards the private chambers of the high Keep. "But I was hoping that after the festival you'd take your knights out to one of the out-laying towns or to London...it's been almost a year since your last visit and I want to know the state of the place."

"I think your more inclined to be interested in the radiation reports we've been hearing about." Yami perked up an eyebrow, "you really don't think it could be spreading to England do you, I know France was hit pretty badly...but...?"

Yami closed his eyes, shaking his head. He could still recall the television images he'd watched so many years ago, of the devastation using nuclear weapons on the dragons had caused. It had been a stupid idea, like most human ideas he supposed, fighting fire with fire.

The dragons hadn't been affected; instead they'd bred like rabbits in an ever increasing manner, a plague of fire breathing creatures. How they managed to breed so swiftly, to reproduce in a manner that made them impossible to conquer Yami could only fathom. Bakura had often speculated that dragons could have been hermaphrodite, enabled to impregnate themselves but Yami highly doubted such a tale. Not when all the dragons he and his knights had ever taken out had all been female and obviously so. He'd never seen or even heard of a male dragon. So it remained one of those questions, a who, a what and a how question.

Something had to set the dragons off in a breeding pattern, something he couldn't figure out no matter what he read or how deeply he thought on the matter and he'd thought on it many a late night, contemplating how they could cull the creatures. He always returned to the single thought, even if they culled the female dragons to a point that there was none left, they would inedibility pop up again. They'd died out once and hidden away in silence to wait for humanity to regrow, therefore they had a way of making sure they could reproduce even if they where stamped out.

"France was one of the worst hit, yes..." Atum stopped at the doors into his chamber, "if Seto can track the movement or spreading of the bad-lands than we might have hope to stop the tainted rain from ruining the out-laying regions around our home and if we can do that...then...there may be more hope for other communities."

"I suppose father." Yami rubbed at his neck, "we'll see how the festival goes, maybe I might pick up a new knight or two and they'll need to be...introduced into the business." He grinned, "It's always interesting to see their reactions to London and I will be first to admit, the London dragons are the most relaxed dragons."

The moment they both entered into the private chambers, their middling conversation stopped, almost as if passing the threshold stopped them both from being whoever the community saw them to be. They were instantly only father and son, no longer Earl and heir. Yami sighed, relaxing his shoulders, sinking into a chair and curling his legs up under his chin and tucking himself into a ball. Atum smiled gently at him, the old man pouring wine from a bottle into a glass and silently sipping the brew.

"So..." He mused, turning from the view out the window, looking to the young man upon the chair best a large, wooden desk, "Isis have anything to say about why you suddenly keeled over?"

Yami closed his eyes, "I'm dreaming father..."

"Dreaming? Right now?"

"No, when I sleep, just recently, it hasn't been happening long...just twice..." He scrubbed his hair, a habit he had when frustrated, "I'm in this...world of nothing, everything there is wrong, gravity, time. There is no sun, just ash and stones...it feels empty, but like it should be a place of beauty. Whenever I'm there I feel sad over whatever happened to the place, and I also know it...I swear, father, it feels like a place I should remember."

Atum nodded slowly, taking another sip of his wine.

Yami buried his head into his knees, "both times there has been a young man there, he looks like my reflection...a distorted reflection, like I'm looking at a version of me who is everything I'm not. Its...very unnerving. At first I thought I was just...dreaming of something, but after today, I'm not so sure. He told me, father, that he'd been run through the chest."

Yami looked up, staring at his father, noting the man's expression hadn't changed, he was simply silently waiting and listening.

"Maybe he's a real person, father, and maybe we're connected somehow, does that even make sense?" Yami stood suddenly, pacing back and forth, "who's ever dreamed of a real person, shared a dream with another person? Its sounds mad right?" He beseeched.

Atum only shrugged his broad shoulders, "We live in a time of magic and dragons, my boy, this world is not the same world you or I where born into. When the dragons returned, so did many things of old that had been buried and hidden away from us for centuries."

"You know, it would be alright, I'd be okay about dreaming of him...he's kind of cute and has this...really...awful attitude." Yami grumbled, "and I mean awful, father. He's hard and worn, as if he's in pain inside." The young knight twisted on his heels, "I have fought many knights but never have I seen such elegance and grace like what he carries. He looks like he could kill without really trying all that hard to do so. And all this would be alright, I could deal with it but...but...he looks at my eyes and he tells me that I am a dragon." He spat the final words out. "It's as if I'm telling myself my worst fears, just hearing it from his mouth. I'm worried father, that these dreams are just me speaking to myself...that I'm finally cracking and going mad."

Yami collapsed back into his heat with a puff of frustration, wanting to hit something and so pulled out the nearest pillow and gave it a good thump.

Atum sighed heavily, placing down the glass he held and wandering towards his son.

"Atemu, you are not going mad, I can promise you that." He placed his hands gently upon the young knight's shoulders, "but, my son, there is something I need to tell you about your eyes..."

Yami backed up, pushing away from the tall old man, pressing into the back of his chair, his face turning white.

"Father...?"

Atum knelt, making sure his eyes where level with his son's, a tender but weary expression across his features.

"This young man in your dreams is quite correct in his assumptions; they are red because they are the eyes of an Elder dragon..."

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"Hey Yugi, Yugi."

Malik's voice brought him out of his dream-state. He was left him slightly confused for a moment as the Egyptian leant over him and shook his shoulders tenderly. Yugi blinked away sleep from his eyes to look wearily up at Malik.

"Hey?" He rolled around and Malik backed away, "what's wrong?"

"Ryou wants us to move on; he's worried about getting scented by a dragon if we stick in one place too long. Joeys got the Jeep warmed up and Kala's made you something to eat."

"I don't need anything, you can give it to Sol-."

Malik grabbed him roughly by his shirt, pulling him up, causing him to dangle in the air like a limp doll as the Egyptian glared with unsettling purple eyes, "you will eat the food my woman makes you, are we clear Yugi?"

"Yes." Yugi nodded, "very clear."

"Good." Malik settled him upon the dirt ground and passed over a new shirt, "here, this is mine..." he offered and Yugi took it, slipping off his ruined, blood stained shirt and casting it away, pulling the new over his head and felt it dangle over his shoulder from its size. He noted Malik only wore his leather vesting and brown, long jacket that dragged on the muddy floor of their hide-away cave. Malik chuckled, ribbing him playfully.

"You're too small Yugi."

"Nope, I'm just right." Yugi grinned, "You're too big. Thanks, even if it does smell like you." He crinkled his nose playfully, stepping out of the cave into the grey, dull morning. The air smelt like rain and he hoped it wouldn't, he was unsure of the toxic state of the rain.

"Here Yugi." Kala sided up to him, passing over a bread-roll, "its not much, but it'll do."

Yugi took it gratefully, pecking her cheek as he passed, "thanks sweetie." He bit into the dry-roll, tasting the salt of the meat, but ignoring the displeasure of the flavour, knowing he couldn't run without food for much longer. Sol scrambled out from under the jeep, wild mop of hair contained by the bandanna wrapped around his head. It had belonged to his grandfather, the untasteful thing that the old man had always worn everywhere and anywhere.

"Stole my bandanna did you." Yugi scrubbed the boy's nose, clicking is tongue at the grease and grime smearing the lad's cheeks.

"Can I have it?"

"Since you refuse to have your hair cut, I suppose it'll work for now, get in the jeep, come on."

Sol climbed up into the jeep, grinning in excitement. Yugi caught the boy by the belt and pulled him into his lap. Considering the boy hadn't been far from the community, he wasn't surprised he was enjoying the sights of the grey and ruined world they lived within. Not that there was all that much too actually see this far out of the towns and cities.

Yugi closed his eyes as Joey wrenched the jeep into gear, rattling the beast to life and once more they set off to blunder their way through the tortured landscape.

"What do you think we should do? Do you know of any communities still functioning?" Malik leant on a bar. He glanced for a moment to Kala, noting that she was asleep and quickly he climbed out of the back to crouch beside Yugi as the young man stroked Sol's head of frazzled hair in his lap.

Yugi opened his mouth for a moment, before he closed it and frowned. "I might...but first things first, we've got to find fresh water and food."

"That'd mean heading into a town." Joey tipped around from the driver's seat, "Yug man, we can't go into a town..."

"Even if it's just one of the smaller ones," Yugi scrambled around for the emergency packs kept in all the Jeeps, finding an old and worn hand-map. He flipped it open to stare at it thoughtfully.

"Well, for one thing..." Malik pointed to an area, "we've got to avoid this entire costal area and keep down-wind of it...about fifty miles off shore a nuclear weapon was fired..."

"I'd be bad-lands then..." Ryou shifted in his seat, joining the discussion. "We could try Wales..."

"No, we just need a small town, find some supplies..." Yugi whispered.

"Yugi, have you got a place for us to go?" Malik raised an eyebrow, tapping his friends shoulder lightly. Yugi shrugged, "I'm not sure yet, give me some time to sleep on it. Joey, head due south, a main road should lead us to a town."

"We can't take a main-road," Joey insisted, "they'd be Raiders out, Yugi we've got Kala with us...she's a woman."

"Gee, like I had trouble noticing the fact that she is female, Joey. Between me, Malik Ryou and you I think we can keep the Raiders from nabbing and raping her."

"Raiders have guns." Ryou frowned, "and I have only a few rounds in my pistol, with my current state of not having much water to drink, I doubt I'd be able to use the Ring-."

"Listen to me," Yugi gritted his teeth, "just get to a town and then I will think of something else after that. Are we clear?"

Silence rested upon the air.

Yugi nodded. "Good." He settled back onto the chair, closing his eyes as he rubbed away the headache growing in his temples. Sol twisted in his lap, snuggling deeper. Yugi stroked the boy's nose, smiling weakly before glancing towards Kala as she rested in the back, her brown tussles of hair curled around her soft features.

Malik bent over, covering her with his jacket.

"We'll find a place, Malik..." Yugi whispered.

The Egyptian rested his head back, fingering the ancient golden artefact jostled in his belt, "you know...ever since that day, when my Dad died and your Grandpa...when all this started..." he scrubbed at his face, "I've been wondering why...Alfred would try to tell me that there is a purpose, that we can survive this tribulation but I just...I can't see it anymore. Why you were the one to run into that first dragon and why we where even there in the first place, digging up secrets that should have been kept buried. What the hell were our parents thinking?!"

"They had to have a reason," Yugi touched the inverted pyramid, "we just need to figure it out...Grandpa didn't die for nothing." Yugi looked down to Sol in his lap, whispering to himself only, "and I didn't just bring him back by wishing him here with me..."

Sol looked up from the picture he was drawing with a mechanical pencil upon a sheet of paper. Yugi gazed at the image, a result of the boys amazing artistic talent far beyond his tender five years. It was still a child's drawing though, of an idealistic world. Yugi smiled at it and Sol grinned happily turning his attention back to drawing the picture of himself and his parent figure sitting upon a level of rocks, looking a distant castle.

A home.

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_To my dearest of readers, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. _

_My best wishes to you all._

_T.W.W_


	4. THC Book 1 Chapter 3

_This one is a pretty long chapter folks, so run to the loo or grab a drink and buckle down for a ride ;p_

_Your friendly Fanfiction Authoress!  
_

**Chapter 3: Heba**

Yami stared into his father's face, searching the aged lines of the man's features, looking for anything that said he was lying. It took moments for his father's words to sink in, his reaction coming quickly the moment they did.

"No." He whispered through a suddenly dry mouth. "Father no...please no."

"You are not a dragon my son." Atum added quickly.

"How can I have a dragons eyes!? I'm human!?" Yami fought, pulling back into the seat, "look at me, I was born human, I am human, I've always been a human!"

"Yes, you are human..." Atum, kissed the young man's forehead, "you were born a human, I should know, I was there."

"So what do you mean?" Yami's voice went up slightly in pitch, causing Atum to force down a smile in the recollection of his son's younger years of life.

The Earl sighed, sitting back on his knees, "I've been waiting for this day for quite a while, ever since the dragons returned...so I am guessing the pyramid has finally been given to its owner."

"The Pyramid?" Yami frowned, "what?"

"It's alright; don't worry about that right now. Do you ever remember your grandmother telling you the story about the Pharaoh?"

"You mean the one I'm named after?" Yami thinned his lips, "yes, I remember the story. She told it to me before the dragons came, when I used to think dragons where a myth, and exciting myth, not killers who destroyed out world. What has this got to do with my eyes and my dreams?"

"Everything." Atum smiled weakly, "Surprisingly everything...so, tell me the story..." The old man prompted.

Yami sighed. "Well, it was during a time when dragons and man lived together...however the dragons where steadily increasing in number, faster than the humans..." the young knight frowned at the thought, but shifted it to one side at the gaze of his father. "There was, in Egypt, a young Pharaoh who saw that the dragons where not like other beasts of the earth. He could see that eventually humans would be overcome by them so he and a few of his trusted Court sought out..." Yami scrubbed his hair, "ah..."

"The Ancient Ones...the Elders." Atum prompted gently.  
"Yes," Yami pointed and clicked a finger, "that's right, they sought out the Ancient Ones who where the Eldest dragons, the creators of different clans, the oldest of the old. Unlike other dragons below them, they had intelligence. The young Pharaoh found he had something in common, these Dragons where not like others of their kind; they were thoughtful and enjoyed the earth for its beauty. So together they devised a plan to save both their races from excision for already the dragons had lost many of their clans and the balance between elements was collapsing." Yami breathed out.

Atum dragged over a chair, seating himself upon it and taking his son's hands in his own worn fingers, "that's right. These Ancient Dragons expressed to the young Pharaoh that they lacked one thing, a soul. They were still beasts of the earth and would always be beasts, beasts without souls. The dragons wanted what the humans had, the ability to be spiritual, to have a conscience, a knowledge of right and wrong and the love and emotions humans where blessed with. So the Eldest of the Ancient Ones told the young Pharaoh that if he wished to save humanity they could do so by joining the two races in such a way they would never be able to live apart." Atum spread his hands and Yami breathed out, beginning again.

"The story goes that The Eldest gave the Pharaoh his eyes, the most important thing a dragon can ever have, and the Pharaoh, in return, gave the dragon half his soul, affectively giving the dragon his humanity. They became like one being. The Eldest could walk amongst humans like a human, and walk amongst dragons like a dragon, and the young Pharaoh could see what a dragon saw and live the length of a life a dragon lived. Other dragons followed the example of the Eldest and a clan was formed of humans and dragons. The Pharaoh and the Eldest made a world of peace and for a time they reigned without trouble, their reign lasted for many generations...but...in the end..."

Yami closed his eyes, for a moment, hating their colour, their inhuman appearance and feeling revolt and confusion for himself. "Father, you can't really mean..."

"You are the Pharaoh." Atum chuckled, "yes, you are."

Yami raised a hand, shaking it, "Father, this story is a fable, even if it is real; it happened thousands of years ago. If I recall correctly, the Pharaoh and the Eldest of the dragons failed. Another dragon rose up and destroyed all they held dear. They lost, their ideal utopia never made it. So if he died, how am I him?"

Atum shook his head, his silver hair shifting in the light, "I told you, my son, we live in a changed world, a world of magic and dragons. The young Pharaoh and his dragon saw what was going to happen and they made a plan. The Eldest dragon of the Ancient Ones wasn't the Eldest because he'd live so long; he was the Eldest because he could remember everything. If one of the Ancient Ones died he'd be born again with his memoires, a genetic form of keeping history alive. By giving the human Pharaoh his eyes, he gave the human the same ability, to be born again with his memories when the time for him was needed. I imagine you've been born into every generation since that time but only now do you need to be awakened..."

"And the young Pharaoh, by giving the dragon half his human soul..." Yami whispered, "gave the dragon the ability to be born a human."

"That's right. And the pyramid I spoke of was an artefact of a set of Seven created to hold the magic's of a dragon until the time the old ways were needed again and they are needed now."

Yami cringed, "How...do you know, all this, Father...please, this is impossible."

"Ancient scriptures," Atum sighed heavily, patting the large books upon his desk, glancing at the others surrounding the walls of his chamber, "digs in Egypt...your mother gave birth to you on a particular day in a particular place, just like it was foretold." He smiled faintly in silent recollection.

"What can I say, my son, you've always had bad timing..." He mused, "but Solomon Motou was there and thankfully he knew a little about child-birth. Damn man was a jack of all trades. You were born in the Pharaoh's tomb my-boy, hence why your mother named you after him. You just had to come out that day didn't you; you couldn't wait for another day..."

"Did you just say Motou." Yami blinked, not really hearing the words his father spoke, his mind drifting.

"Yes, Solomon Motou. I worked with him on many digs back...before the dragons. He was an experienced archaeologist and one of the few true believers in his field."

"True believers of what?" Yami tensed.

Atum raised an eyebrow, "you'll have to read that yourself, my son, it is your journey, not mine." The Earl spread his hands, indicating the books and scrolls, "you've had the easy road, as the Pharaoh, you were given grace to remember your past...so start remembering, the Eldest of the Ancient Ones gave you that gift, I think you'd better start repaying him."

"Wait, Father," Yami stalled the man from existing, "did...Solomon...I mean, there must have been many Motou's in the world but did he-."

"He had family, yes." Atum smiled, "he took full custody of his grandson, the last I heard from him, after the child's parents died in a fire...pretty much the day after the boy was born. He took the baby to Egypt so that no one would find him, the child grew up in the desert, as a wild adventurer."

"His name, Father...what was his name?"

"Yugi." Atum turned on his heels, "it means game in Japanese I believe. Solomon Motou was Japanese, I don't think Solomon was his real name but was the name he was known by in our field of work."

"Father, that's him, the young man in my dreams..."

Passing out the doors Atum spoke back, "really, well fancy that..."

Yami stared at the closed door as it clipped shut behind the Earl. He sat for a moment, confused, miffed and painfully aware that he was looking like an idiot with his mouth hanging open. The windows of the Keep shuttered from a rising wind and he jerked in the direction of the outside world.

"Right," he stood, slapping hands together in determination, "time to do some research!"

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Mai crept slowly towards the door into the Earl's personal chamber, glancing around the dark corridor before slipping in the key and turning the lock. She balanced a tray of food in one hand, using her well proportioned hip to shove open the door.

The air in the quiet, still chamber was cool from an open window. A fire had smouldered itself into little flickers, just managing to live without wood.

Her eyes settled upon the figure lying curled up in sleep upon the rugged floor beside the fire place, piles of old books and scrolls surrounding him like a nest. She held back a laugh and carefully, with as much ease as she could she slid down the tray she'd prepared upon the low table before slipping off the shawl around her shoulders and gently tucked it around the young knight.

"Sleep well." Navigating her way out of the dark chamber Mai clipped the door shut behind her, biting her lips as a smile crept over her cheeks. "He's going to make a good future leader...falling asleep while working late already."

With a faint laugh she collected her long dress up and scampered off down the hallway, delighted with her tale to tell the maids on cooking duty. There was nothing she loved more than a good gossiping session late at night, full of giggles and blushes.

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Yugi leant wearily upon his pole, gazing out across the sullen landscape of the lonely night. The air was rich with silence, weighting on his shoulders as he glared around their small encampment upon the road side. He wouldn't sleep this night, not with the fear of Raiders, no, tonight he would stand his ground and watch the darkness. Beside him Sol shifted uneasily, the young boy whimpering in his sleep. Yugi knelt to gently caress the child's cheeks, feeling the dampness of tears.

Hunger, he could imagine, was what caused the pain in the boy's features. Hunger and thirst.

In this world of never ending nothing, they had nothing.

He licked his own dry lips and turned his attention back to surveying the night with pale, eerie eyes.

"Sorry, imaginary other me," he smiled weakly, unconsciously touching the golden inverted pyramid dangling freely down his neck, "guess I won't be seeing you tonight."

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Yami yawned, rubbing sleep that had gathered from his eyes. Wearily he flicked his gaze around the chamber, noting the sunrise was already well into swing. By the sounds filtering in through the jarred open window the morning festivities were up and running. He had to smile from the laughter of the children and wondered just how many of them would be dressed in their Sunday best for morning services before the grand festivals opening. A movement beside him caused him to wrench to one side, and he stared dumbly at the sight of Bakura sitting upon a couch, gazing at a large book in his lap, eating what looked like breakfast toast.

"Morning." Bakura didn't even look up, but munched upon his toast, "Mai brought you breakfast..." He pointed, "she brought you dinner too, but you were dead asleep. You're lucky she didn't take advantage of your state and draw all over your face with makeup." He flipped a page, grinning at the thought.

Yami struggled to sit upright, his limbs heavy like weighed iron. He rubbed at his eyes again, wondering why he felt so odd and displaced. He was obviously in his father's chamber, the books and scrolls from his reading the latter night spread all around him. He had to think, to remember what he'd actually been researching.

"Yugi..." He licked his lips, frowning in thought. He hadn't dreamed.

"I didn't dream of him." Yami stood, staring at the plate of food and stealing the coffee as Bakura started to reach for it.

"Well, maybe he didn't go to sleep. Could work both ways you know..." Bakura stole another slice of toast, munching contently. Yami grabbed the book from his lap, dusting off the crinkled pages, muttering at the butter stains.

"Will you not eat over the old and very priceless books!"

"Hey, I was enjoying that. It had pretty pictures." Bakura mumbled through his mouth-full.

Yami raised an eyebrow in revolt, "that's disgusting, Felix."

"I'd been wondering where you'd hidden yourself. Feeling alright after yesterday's miss-adventure." Ignoring his christian name Bakura waved a hand in the air, reaching for a drink on the table, pouring a glass to wash down his food.

"I'm fine...I suppose."

"Hmp," the white knight grunted, "what's the problem now, Temmy."

Brushing back his golden fringe Yami settled into a couch, "Bakura...you know, how people often dislike our eyes because they are red?" The young heir sipped his coffee, sighing in relief at the bitter taste that warmed his stiff body, aching from the position he'd fallen asleep in. He could thank Mai a dozen times for being such a wonderful mothering woman – or a witch.

"That's a load of baloney, Temmy, people just enjoy making up hogwash." Bakura tweaked an ear, settling back in the couch. "Don't let them get to you..."

Yami glanced out the windows, noting the fluttering kites of colour high in the blue sky. Typical of Seto to give the children just enough wind for the day of Kites. "I think they might be right..."

"Right in what?"

"That our eyes are dragon eyes." For a moment Yami was sure Bakura was going to laugh, he actually looked as though he was going to crack up in hysterics right then and there but the mood in his stark features vanished, dropping away.

"Dragon eyes," Bakura sat forward, "and we gave half our souls to them so they could...become humanish...dragons...Yami, have you got the fever again, maybe I should take you to see Isis-."

"Bakura, my father wouldn't say something like this to me as a joke."  
"The Earl told you this? The Earl?" Bakura stood, glancing around the piles of ancient books and scrolls, "okay...I respect your father but you ever thought my eyes might be reddish because I'm an albino?"

"Albino's have light skin; you're about as tanned as a surfer during the Before Time." Yami picked up sheets of paper placing them upon the small table.

"Okay, we could be the result of human mutation!?" Bakura insisted.

Yami fished out his glasses from under a pile of pillows, propping them on his nose and peering at Bakura over them, "Bakura, both you and I were born before the Nuclear holocaust...therefore we cannot be the result of genetic mutation caused by the nuclear winds, plus, we have no proof as of yet that humans have been effected. What I do have proof of though, is the theory that we're more of a result of ancient technology than anything else, radiation or otherwise."

"Fine, humour me." Bakura tweaked up an eyebrow.

"Alright, these are images of Tablets found in Egypt, about the young Pharaoh and his Dragon, it's basically telling their story. Everyone thought it to be a fable, apart from a small group of archaeologists who formed a society, called 'Inklings' and they referred to themselves as Dragonologists. They believed it to be true fact, they found a group of Egyptians who lived with the old ways, underground, and began with them the researching for this ancient utopia 'Atlantis' that the young Pharaoh and his Dragon created. Wiped form existence centuries ago, but bits of it had bled into history...all through history...Atlantis, Olympus, Arthur and his Knight..."

"King Arthur and his Knights?" Bakura paused Yami.

Yami gave a small smile, "The Pharaoh and his Dragon had a Court. His Court had human and dragon partnerships too....look at this image and tell me that isn't a rather uncanny resemblance of me."

Bakura raised an eyebrow, coming around to stand beside his friend, peering at the photograph.

He was silent, picking up the sheet, touching the image that had been engraved into the stone, once it would have been coloured and he knew, already, by just staring at the almost perfect detail, that the figure standing beside a golden dragon could be no other. It was Egyptian and yet not, far to detailed and realistic to be of the ancient style.

"Well...Felix?" Yami pressed. "I'm not going insane am I?"

"My dear Atemu, if you are, then I'm apparently on my way..."

"Good," Yami pulled out another sheet, "because who does this look like?"

The white knight grabbed the sheet of paper, cursing under his lips as he stared hard at the photograph printed out upon the paper. He had to wonder what the image would have looked like coloured, but even without colour, it was plainly obvious to his eyes who and what the image depicted. The dragon in the craving was beyond beautiful, also beyond any he had seen and the human beside could be none other than himself.

"Me?" Bakura breathed out, "I was in on all this?"

"Yup," Yami sat down, bringing out a large book, "apparently you where my General of War, before that, you'd been a Thief, and awfully good one at that."

The white knight thinned his lips, "well, sounds like me, looks a little bit like me but that's a dragon. Freaking big one too, and I ain't seen any dragon that looks like...that...its kinda thin..."

"Yes," Yami scrambled for more papers, "that'd be the Second of the Eldest, a Water-Breather...apparently the only one of his kind left. He gave you his eyes, and you gave him half of your soul..."

Bakura tipped his head to one side, poking out a tongue and biting it, "I gave a dragon half of my soul. Well damn, I must have liked him then heh."

"By forming such a pact between humans and dragons, with his Court able to gain immortality through the trading of a dragons eyes for a half a humans humanity, they discovered a way to bring peace and rule together." Yami shook his head, "its amazing."

"Yeah, far-fetched kind of amazing. They obviously messed it up, because if I remember Temmy, we go around killing dragons, you know, because they kill us and eat the ash. I haven't met a friendly, happy dragon yet let alone one intelligent enough to have a good old cup of tea with me."

Yami nodded, "that's because the dragons of our time do not follow the Ancient Ones, they're like real beasts now, they have no minds and no abilities to think cognitive thoughts."

Bakura looked at him and Yami was sure the man was considering thumping over the head rather firmly just to see the result, the white knight spoke slowly, "So, these Ancient Ones could think?"

"They were so old, in form of genetic memory, that they'd formed a kind of...intelligence but they were missing a soul. Hence why the pact was so important to them, with half a human soul they could feel and experience emotions and desires and be...well...almost human. They would always be near their human counter-part because obviously one soul would...always want to be together."

"Intelligent dragons with the ability to feel like humans feels, powerful combination. No wonder you're all happy-go-lucky about it." Bakura snorted.

Yami ignored him. "As far as I can tell, there are three Ancient Ones recorded in these records, there could be more I don't know; only two of them formed a pact with humans. The rest of the dragons that became part of the Court where from other clans, some were Alpha's who'd been kicked out for threatening other Alphas, others were females who needed safety...I believe one was even at deaths doors by the time the Eldest found him. With a Court of immortals and dragons to help keep peace, the utopia of Atlantis flourished."

"All good, but like I said, what happened?" Bakura sipped his black coffee, wincing slightly at how cold it had become from their conversations length.

"The Third of the Elders in these records," Yami took off his glasses, nibbling at the side one, "managed to create a clan large enough to overwhelm the Pharaoh, his Court and his people."

"And so, Atlantis sunk." Bakura snorted. "Whoops. Well, if I'd really been me back then, I'd have made sure to knock the guy out before he came and killed us all."

"If you had, we wouldn't be here today. That Ancient One, who is...apparently called Zorc, is the one who began the cycle again when he was awakened, all the way back in two-thousand and nine. It seemed the young Pharaoh and his Dragon had an inkling something like this would happen and they made sure they'd be around to help again, that they'd have another chance at creating their perfect world." Yami scrambled for another book, heaving it up. His coffee forgotten, the food now cold as he hoisted himself up to sit on the arm-rest of Bakura's chair. His fellow knight peered at the book as Yami flicked to a page.

"These are Seven Items created from Dragon Tears, or golden blood as it was called. These Items were crafted to hold the intelligence or...maybe it could translate to magic, that a dragon possessed, keeping it locked away. One for each a dragon who was bonded with a Priest in the Pharaoh's Court."

Bakura stood, dusting off his pants, "alright Temmy, so...we've got dragon eyes, fine by me, but what are we supposed to do about this? I ain't walking up to any dragon and asking if they've seen an...Ancient One or whatever. I can just see how that'd go."

"I doubt that'd work." Yami rolled his eyes, "no...the answer I believe, falls to memories."

"Memories?"

"Yes," Yami nodded, "The dragons ability to have genetic memory had been passed to the humans when they'd traded eyes and souls. I just need to find out how to unlock my memories, since I am the Pharaoh."

Bakura threw caution to the wind, suddenly revealing his intrigue with a wide grin, "And your dragon?"

"I dream of him, his name in this life is Yugi Motou, he's the grandson of the head of the Inklings. I need to find him, Bakura, before he dies and I lose him again."

"No, what you need to do," Bakura stood, pointing at him, "is unlock your memories first, and then I believe you'll find him quite easily."

The young heir thought for a moment, before agreeing, "alright...so...unlocking genetic memories?" He brushed back his blond fringe, "sounds like a job for..."

"The Wizard." Bakura chuckled.

Yami only winced. "How are we going to convince him?"

"You hold him and I'll hit him!" Bakura pounded fist to palm in glee.

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Yugi stared across the devastation of the main-high-way through the desolate landscape, crisp with ash. The air was freezing to his finger tips, biting in the new dawn that graced the world in a haze between the cloud masses dotting the muggy sky. He hoped that the Earth, their beautiful planet, would reset herself after the devastation of the nuclear holocaust they'd rained down upon the dragons. The land was scarred by ash and radiation, the world a changed world.

Cars lay scattered and discarded upon the road, bodies lying visibly in some of them, where they'd either suicided in desperation or been shot by radiation crazed Raiders. It was a scene he'd seen before, on many of his travels, indeed, it was almost a replica of the scene he'd found Sol within.

Joey's slipped up beside him, the American looking darkly across the motor-way, "we've got some petrol from a couple of the cars, almost got a full tank." He rubbed at his chin, "you sure about this Yugi?"

"It'd take too long to cut around the foot-hills and the back-water streets are well overgrown by now." Yugi swung his long pole around, swinging it over his shoulders and hanging both arms over it. "Come on, the more we travel today, the less time we'll spend on the motor-way. Let's try to get some distance shall we."

Joey gave a small nod, "Yug..." He paused as Yugi started back to the waiting Jeep.

"Yeah?"

"We couldn't find any food or water..." Joey ducked his head, "we're going to be out by tonight."

Yugi thinned his lips and nodded, "we've got time to keep searching as we along, I'm sure we'll find something."

They were false words and he knew Joey knew it. The man had known him to long, they'd all known each other too long and they all knew their situation was one of increasing difficultly.

Climbing into the jeep Yugi smiled at Sol as the boy looked up from rubbing his cold bare hands together. The boy's lips where blue but he managed his charismatic grin, the same grin Yugi had often seen upon his grandfathers face when dire situations called for a smile.

"Cold?" He offered softly as Joey started the jeep and they started down the cracked motor-way, twisting between the discarded cars and the shrubs that had grown over the years since the Tribulation.

"Yeah, Dad."

"Here, let me take those for you." Yugi took the boy's hands, hiding them between his thighs before bending forward to kiss the child's nose. "Don't you worry," he whispered, "we'll be alright."

Large wide eyes blinked, the boy's expression one of complete innocent trust that broke Yugi's heart. "I know Dad, you'll find a way to get us out of this. You always do."

Yugi bit back tears, hugging Sol to his chest, looking towards Malik as the Egyptian sat in the back, Kala tucked in his jacket. His friend gave him a weak nod, hugging his girl closer. Right now, they could only hope.

But Richard had been right about one thing, kids couldn't eat hope, and neither could adults.

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The day's journey had been long and hard through the motor-way, barely covering any miles due to the decaying state of the road-ways. They had no food and this was becoming an obvious issue. Yugi was staring at the burns on his legs, unable to believe he'd actually managed to fall over on the pot-hole riddled motor way while trying to move an abandoned car from their jeeps path. Ryou had his hands out, focusing as he normally did upon wounds. Simple grazing was an easy thing for the magic the Ring possessed to heal.

Well, they'd all thought it was easy.

"It's not working Yugi." Ryou hissed darkly, rising to his feet to be level in height with Yugi as the young man sat upon the jeeps open door, "I haven't enough energy to fuel the magic. I haven't eaten in almost two days. If I can't make ice..."

Yugi stared darkly at the Ring Ryou was tucking back under his shirt, "You can't heal." He stated, staring at his grazed legs.

"And I can't make ice into water."

They stared at each other silently.

Ryou turned away, whispering, "God help us...we need a miracle."

"We'll find one." Yugi hoisted himself up, ignoring the pain and reaching for their med-kit to pull out bandages. "We'll keep looking for a miracle. Come on, get up." He grabbed Ryou's arm, hoisting him upright, "we haven't survived everything we have to die like rats. I didn't see the first bloody dragon to not get killed by one! We're going to keep going."

Joey began, "Yug man-."

"What?" Yugi twisted on his friend, glaring, "do you want to sit here and just die or do you want to keep fighting." He glared at their faces, each in turn, "we're going to keep going until we're on our knees, and then we're going to crawl if we have to. So...get back into the jeep, and lets go."

Joey gulped, nodding slowly, "right. You're right, Yug...You're right."

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Ryuji Otogi, knighted simply as Duke (for reasons Yami was still puzzling over) had an elegance about him that oozed a lean male model. Indeed, Yami was sure that if Tribulation hadn't come then the green eyed knight would have become a famous beauty of an overly stylised world. That had all changed, come the dragon's invasion. Duke had entered into his knight-hood of slayers four years prior, having won his way through the tournament to prove his worth. He'd been eighteen years old then, with a wild, untamed blaze, matching his odd way of dressing like one of the old before timers. His clothing where taken from designs found in magazines and discarded fashion books found by travelling monks from the cities. Children who grew up with no knowledge of the before time often exclaimed how strange and alien the world of the before timers was and how bizarre their clothing and ways now where. Therefore Duke had a name for himself amongst the residents of the Keep, for being charismatically insane and wonderfully delightful with his almost hyperactive mannerisms, which actually made him a great knight. He had the kind of reflexes that made him almost frightfully fast on the mark.

He bounced down the stairs, pausing to stare at both Yami and Bakura.

"Morning Felix, Atemu." He tipped his head, black hair falling over his shoulders, "missed the morning festivities, joining us for lunch, we've got new arrivals just pouring in? The girls are all excited."

Yami smirked, "pour Duke, you're losing all your lovely ladies."

"I know," the man threw his arms up in despair.

"You'll just have to prove yourself worthy in the fights then." Bakura pointed, "like the rest of us who don't rely on our pretty looks to win attention with the women folk."

"Ah yes," Duke slapped Bakura's shoulder, "our jousting match shall be like none other, my dear white knight."

"I'm not 'your dear' anything," Bakura shoved him away, "come on Temmy, we've got to find Seto."

"Oh, oh," Duke stalled them both, "if you're looking for the Wizard, he was rambling around with the Earl, they're trying to fix one of the systems that went down last night."

"What system?" Yami gnawed his lip in concern. The one thing they needed right now was trouble in their techno side of things. The only reason they could throw a festival was because of Seto's ability to mask such a large mass of humans, otherwise dragons would find them a wonderful, happy feast.

"Oh, I'm not sure," Duke waved a hand in the air, "you now Seto though, he won't sleep until it's fixed. He'd be in his office again, I believe..."

"To the dungeons it is." Bakura chortled as he vanished down the corridor, beginning to sing a wild drinking jingle from the Before Time. "It's a big ad! Very big ad! It's a big ad we're in! It's a big ad! My God it's big! Can't believe how big! For Carlton Draught! It's just so freaking huge! It's a big ad! Expensive ad! This ad better sell some blooooooody beer!"

Yami shook his head as the voice became muffled. He gave the slightly pale Duke a nod, "thanks Duke."

"Um...you're welcome...how do you live with that guy, in the same room?"

"One must put aside one's self for friendship sake. Humanity destroyed itself because we became selfish, I won't become selfish with Bakura. His friendship is worth more to me, Duke, than my own personal opinion of what is proper."

"Dude, humanity died because of the dragons." Duke shorted, shrugging his shoulders.

Yami shook his head, "that's just want they want you to think."

Quickly running after Bakura Yami shook his head, laughing softly at the oddity of it all. It would be a couple more days before all the knights and travellers that came for the two week festival would all arrive, but already the Keep was brimming with the excitement and cheer that visitors brought. Tonight he knew there would be stories and tales in the underground hall.

His father would want him to be there, to listen and take note of those who'd travelled from other communities. He had to be on his guard, he had to act like a knight who protected his home, even from other communities that dared to threaten the peace they had. Yet amongst it all, his mind was alive, buzzing with possibilities and the hope that his dreams would lead him back to that young man. Right now, he could only pray for the safety of the youth and his companions.

"I'll figure this out, Yugi...just hold on."

The dungeon was pretty much what a dungeon had always been described as. It was simply a dungeon or it had once been in times long past. Now, it was the perfect place for their resident Wizard to reside, the cold, dark, dampness muffling all sound of their heavy foot-falls upon the thick stone tunnels.

Immensely glad that Bakura had calmed his singing down as they entered into the almost holy environment, Yami licked his lips, passing the lines of jarred iron doors, wincing at the thought of the torture and death that had been beyond their thresholds once upon a time. Now they stored the communities vaults and many things his father wished for those outside of their community to never know about. It was awful sounding, but their way of life kept them alive and their people alive. Though Yami was sure his father would have wished to save as many people as possible, they could only do so much with the resources they had.

One vital resource was not in petrol or iron or coal, but in fact, a resource of the mind that came in the ghastly annoying package of Seto Kaiba. Stark and tall, Seto Kaiba was a lean young man, who had more age about him than what first met the eye. Their resident Wizard had once been a powerful, powerful young business man. An inventor, apparently one of those child geniuses who looked at the world down pointed noses. In other words, he'd been a rich brat but his past had its hurdles. Yami curled his nose, recalling the whipping scars he'd seen upon the smooth tenors of the young man's back, caused by the ruthless beatings of the man who'd adopted both Seto and his younger brother, Mokuba, who was now a squire in training for knighthood.

All the riches and power in the world hadn't helped save a little boy from the pain and suffering that came with abuse and manipulation. It was little wonder that their Seto Kaiba was a hard-crusted, usually silent young man, but when he did speak, he spoke with authority and it was usually something worth saying.

Yami hated to admit it, but Seto Kaiba was a handy man to have around and if ever he needed to talk to someone who'd give him a blunt, truthful (intelligent) answer he'd come straight to Seto. Bakura was blunt, but his answers usually involved brutish things that Yami preferred not to dwell on.

They came to a slightly larger iron door. Bakura stared at it for a moment, then shoved on a stone-plate under his foot. The door shifted, grinding open to reveal a stark black inside. Yami reached out, touching the surface of the black liquid, watching it ripple slightly in the light of the glowing lantern above them.

"Hello sick-up-your-arse-ness." Bakura shouted through the doorway, "It is I, Bakura, Thief of the Night, come to steal your underwear once more!" The white knight added a rich, insane cackle.

A shoe was thrown through the doorway, hitting the wall and thumping onto the ground.

Bakura raised an eyebrow, "wooo, a shoe, I am so scared."

The next one hit its target.

Yami bit his lips to contain his laughter as Bakura rubbed his head painfully, muttering curses under his breath.

"What do you want?" The voice called out from the milky gloom. Yami raised a hand, signalling Bakura to silence before he replied.

"Seto, can we come in please, I need to speak to you about something important."

A voice came through a hidden intercom. "If it's about avoiding the horde of unwelcome guests come to steal my inventions than I suggest you scram-."

"Actually, it's about my secret locked up genetic memories of being a Pharaoh who traded half his soul with a dragon to create peace and harmony for the world...you know, nice, lovey-dovey stuff." Yami shouted in return, "however if you want I can go back and invite some of our guests down here too-."

"Get in!"

"Coming." Yami chimed in a sing-song voice, pointing to Bakura and hissing darkly, "behave."

"I'll be good." Bakura grinned.

Yami rolled his eyes, stepping through the threshold of darkness. He would never become accustomed to the sensation of walking through the force-field Seto projected around his chambers. It trickled over his skin like faint dribbling water, nipping at his flesh, making him aware of every ounce of his body. Light flared, causing him to wince from the sharp sting in his eyes as he wandered through into a large chamber, the main area of it sunken low with a walk-way interlinked around and over. Seto Kaiba was nowhere to be seen amongst the clean and tidy world of computers and faintly glowing objects admitting soft, peaceful blue light.

All hell would break loose, Yami was sure, if the other remaining communities discovered the advantages in technology they still held, all because of Seto Kaiba.

"Your highness."

Yami gave a sharp intake of breath, turning sharply to one side and staring at the tall young man who loomed over him.. Seto was awfully tall, taller than Bakura, which placed Yami sadly at his torso height, making it impossible for him not to look upwards into bright blue eyes that hid a smirk.

"Seto, don't do that!"

"I apologise." Seto brushed back his brown hair. The tone in which the apology came with gave it very little meaning.

"Oh shut up." Yami pointed at the chest in front of him, "I need your help."

"You usually don't come and see me for no apparent reason." The dull voice dragged out and slowly the robed young man wandered towards a set of shimmering stairs, lifting up the hem of his blue robe and wandering down silently. "What is your difficultly now, your highness, that you'd disturb my work."

"Don't crack a hissy fit." Bakura waggled a finger at the Wizard, "that just makes me want to punch you."

"Did you have to bring _it_ along?"

"Yes," Yami nodded, "he's involved."

Bakura collapsed onto a couch set up beside a low glass table, the white knight poured himself a drink of sparkling, blue water. "Yup, I'm involved!"

Seto pressed a slim button upon a transparent desk and Yami blinked as a hologram flickered to life, making the blue room ignite in colour all the more. "Genetic memory, your highness, what have you been reading?"

"Is it possible?" Yami pressed his hands on the cool surface of the table, "Seto? Please..."

Seto thinned his eyes, staring at the two knights darkly. Yami groaned. He threw up his arms in frustration at the obvious, disbelieving glare of their resident wizard.

"Oh boy," Bakura whistled, propping his hands between his belt, "this is gonna take awhile..."

Yami kicked his shins.

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Her hands were soft, not like his at all, not anymore. There'd once been a time, a long time ago now it seemed, when he had hands soft like a woman's hands. A boy, wild and untamed in the dusty sand of Egypt, enjoying the freedom he'd been blessed with at that young, carefree age. How his grandfather had encouraged his romping around, as if the old man had known, secretly inside, that his future would be riddled with despair and hardships.

How had that old man known things was still a mystery, a mystery Yugi was happy to let himself ponder often during the dark, bleak moments. Rubbing Kala's cold hands Yugi raised them to his lips as kissed them them lightly as the young woman sat across from him in the back of the jeep, silent as her eyes trained over the lonely road ahead.

Evening was settling in, a time when travel would become a longer dangerous, therefore the situation of finding a place to set camp had become dire. Kala's cramps were bad, her monthly cycle having landed during a rather bothersome week. Any other week but this one, he'd supposed, would have been better. He'd opted to stay behind with her while the other three and an energetic Sol, scouted the area for signs of Raiders and a place to set camp for the cold night.

"Sorry Yugi." Kala whispered through cracked lips. He reached out, wiping blood from a split on the soft skin, smiling tenderly at the young woman he had known for years since he had stumbled upon her on a London trip.

"It's not your fault, Kala, that your cycle would land now. I should be the one feeling sorry for you," he twisted picking up the small medicine kit under a trunk in the jeep, "we're out of meds. I can't understand why I didn't keep these jeeps filled with meds all the time..."

"I'll be alright." She dusted at her brown hair worriedly, "they'll be alright won't they?" Her eyes glossed over the slowly darkening world.

Yugi nodded, "they'll be fine." He perked up an eyebrow, "look, there's Malik and Sol right now. See," he slapped her thigh, "nothing to worry about." Grabbing a pole that made up the roll-cage of the jeep Yugi hoisted himself up and out of the vehicle, landing elegantly upon the ground. It crunched under his boots. Sol ran into his arms and he threw the boy up and over his shoulder, giving Malik a nod of approval.

"Find anything?"

Malik was touching the golden artefact Alfred had left him with, the odd golden rod like item that he constantly kept slung around his back or waist in a belt like a sword. Yugi had to wonder if it could be used as a blade, it looked sharp enough to stab someone with and long enough to block blows. Malik's manner of touching it wasn't unlike Ryou's habit of gripping the Ring concealed under his robes.

"Yeah, there's a small area about fifteen minutes walk away, it looks protected enough, should be able to set up a good watch there too, Ryou and Joey are there now clearing a spot for us."

"Okay," Yugi slipped Sol into Kala's arms, "no...water or food?"

"None." Malik shook his head in despair, "looks like Raiders have already been through this area, which is why I don't think we'll run into any yet."

"That's one good thing." Kala leant on the roll-age, "I don't have to be worried about getting raped by radiation crazed men that tear the skin off your bones and make coats out of it, while you're alive..." She shuttered, hugging Malik's long worn army-trench coat around herself in tight protection.

"You and Yugi both." Malik smirked, ruffling Yugi's mop of hair playfully, "such a pretty boy Yugi Motou."

"Shut up!" Yugi hissed through a laughed, "Or I'll kick your butt."

"Hey Dad!?" Sol tugged on Yugi's pants.

"Yes?" Gracing the boy with a smile Yugi reached for the boy's bandanna, his grandfather's old bandanna that looked perfectly at home on the child.

"What is raped?"

Yugi patted the child's head, "I'll tell you later Solomon, let us adults worry about Raiders and what they do, alright, it's not your problem to worry about them."

Sol seemed to pout slightly in concern, "But...but what if they do come?"

"Then I'll grab my pole," Yugi hoisted the boy up into his arms, propping him back into the jeep as Malik started the engine, "and I will kill each and every one of them before they can even think of hurting you." Yugi poked Sol's nose, making the boy giggle, "and your job is look after Kala, okay, because you're a man and men should always look after the pretty princesses."

Sol grinned, "just like in you and Uncle Malik's stories!?"

"Yup." Yugi settled back into a seat as Malik drove through the burned out landscape, "just like the stories." He tipped his head back, looking out across the desolate world, empty in its grey wash, stinking of death and decay, of soot and ash that fell with the rain. His fingers touched the golden inverted pyramid around his neck and he gripped it, whispering.

"I could do with my own knight right now..." He bowed his head, huddling Sol closer. "Shame he isn't real..."

Sol giggled, "but Dad, you're not a damsel in distress."

Yugi chuckled into the boy's shoulder, "yeah, I don't think I'd make a very good one too. You on the other hand," pulling up the boys shirt Yugi blew a firm raspberry on the bare pale skin, causing Sol to erupt into squeals of giggles, "are perfect for the role."

"Dad! Dad! Stop, no...please...Daddy! That tickles!"

"I know, it's supposed to."

Malik only shook his head, giving a smile at the two in the back seats. He glanced upwards slightly, looking further into the re-view mirror and frowned when a sight caught his eye.

"Oh shit."

Yugi shoved Sol down almost instantly, the boy becoming silent with the heightened hair between the two adults. Yugi climbed towards Malik, "What is it?"

"Dust cloud..."

"Raiders?"

"They'd have shot at us by now. Grab the binoculars..." Malik twirled the jeep slightly. Yugi bent over the front seat, rambling around for the supplies bags in the front. He heard Malik's faint chuckle.

"Nice arse Yugi."

"Thanks." Sizing both binoculars and a pistol Yugi flipped back around, "One of my redeeming qualities..." He shoved Sol down again, peering between the binoculars and tweaking the controls, watching the approaching dust cloud.

"What idiots, don't they know admitting that much dust will cause attention..." He grumbled, noting horses amongst the dust, and the gleam of a knight's shield, the emblem upon it glittered in the dusks light.

"It's a knight Malik, pull up, I don't want to give a Knight a bad idea about us...this could be our miracle."

"Alright." Malik slowed the jeep right down, the gears grinding wearily as they drew to a stop. Yugi hid his pistol. Sol peered out from under a blanket, clambering up the seat and peering over Yugi's shoulder as the horses drew closer, the sound of their snorting and clopping hooves reaching their ears.

"Wow..." Sol whispered, "a real knight!" The boy's eyes gleamed widely.

"A Dragon Slayer one at that." Malik propped himself over his seat, tweaking Sol's nose playfully, "Don't get any ideas pip-squeak."

Yugi pointed to Sol, "Stay in the jeep." He heaved himself over the edge of the vehicle, landing in the ash covered ground, reaching for his pole as he slowly approached the knight. The man atop the beautiful, grey steed was tall and lankly, with an air of an aristocrat, the kind of aristocrat Yugi was sure he'd have spat at. He looked nothing like Yami, felt nothing like Yami, indeed Yugi had the intense sensation that he was not going to like the man by the sheer fact of his features. During the Before Time the man could have had cosmetic surgery; he looked old enough to have been old enough in the Before Time. With white hair chopped short around his shoulders, armour clean and shined with obvious sweat to someone other than himself, he looked like a man used to having orders followed.

"Greetings, traveller."

Yugi paused at the man's voice, rich, fluid and beautifully spoken with a twang.

Yugi tipped his head up, "Hi. You're kicking up a dust storm, not a smart thing to do."

"You have a jeep, I have a horse, we do what we must."

"Nice."

"Where are you heading?" The man inclined his head.

"Somewhere." Yugi smiled weakly, "and nowhere."

"We're heading to Hedingham Keep." The knight slid down from his horse, peering at Yugi and then back towards Sol and Malik within the jeep. "I'm Pegasus J. Crawford, Knight of Maximillion." His bright green eyes settled upon Yugi, glancing over his ruffled, blood stained clothing and the iron pole he gripped in one hand.

"Yugi Motou," Yugi gave a wave back to the jeep, "my son Solomon, Malik Ishtar and Kala Muller, we have two more in our group, Ryou Bakura and Joey Wheeler."

"A small group travelling this far out into the waste-lands?" The knight tipped back his head, eyeing the jeep thoughtfully for a moment.

"Our community was burned down a couple days ago by a dragon, London Clan by the looks of her, we are all that survived." Malik offered. "We have no food or water..."

The knight blinked in silent confusion, his brow contorting, looking between both Sol and Kala within the jeep before giving a weak smile, "then let me offer my protection to you and yours, it is a duty as a knight to help the helpless."

For a moment Yugi twitched, the word helpless catching him slightly off guard. Never in his life had he been called helpless. He hid his anger at the label, instead consecrating on the knight and what he had spoken. He'd said Hedingham Keep, which mean the place of his imaginary dreaming partner actually existed. That thought alone was enough to spur him onto another action even as his lips moved to thank the knight.

"Thank you, sir, you have no idea how grateful we would be." Yugi reached for the jeep's door, and paused. He turned slightly towards the white haired knight, "excuse me, sir?"

Pegasus glanced around, giving a wiry smile, causing Yugi to cringe slightly at how strange the smile appeared in his eyes, as though the man was studying him and every ounce of his finally tuned body.

"Yes, Yugi-boy?"

"Who runs Hedingham Keep?"

"Ah," Pegasus raised his grey eyebrows, "that would be Earl Atum Amir and the current Champion of this region, his son, Atemu Amir...Knighted as Lord Yami. The man I am going to beat this year." The knight grinned in victory, already so sure of his victory.

Yugi dropped his iron pole, spluttering in disbelief, "did you say Yami...?"

"Indeed I did."

Yugi turned away, grasping his chest in frozen fright, "he's real...dear lord, he's real..."

"Hey, Yug, is there a problem? " Malik called from the jeep.

Yugi glanced up and forced himself to shake his head and form a weak smile. "Its fine Malik." He twisted back towards the elderly knight, "you'll be camping with us then, we found a spot, it looks good."

"Safer in numbers, yes." The knight grinned, perching himself atop his horse once more. "We'll follow you."

Yugi nodded slowly, turning towards the jeep and launching himself up with a heave of his pole. The knight's eyes were still on him and wouldn't seem to leave. He crouched beside Sol as Malik revved the engine, starting them off once more.

"Dad?" Sol whispered into his ear.

"Yes?"

"He won't stop looking at you."

"I know." Yugi brushed the boy's forehead with a soft kiss, "don't you worry, he's just a nice Knight who's going to give us some food and water. Okay."

"So...this is the miracle Uncle Ryou wanted?"

"Don't presume something is good just because it appears to be so, Solomon, we do not know whether something is good or bad until the future comes and the future is always coming. Let tomorrow worry over tomorrow, we'll have a warm meal tonight, that is what matters."

"Okay." Sol grinned, cuddling up to the man. Yugi propped his head upon the child's wild mop of hair and breathed out. How he wished he could believe his own words.

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Rebecca was a young girl, she barely looked over fifteen, with bright blond hair tussled around her slight features. Beside Kala, she was a tiny little doll and Yugi had to admit, Kala was feeling the pinch at being ordered around by such a small thing. Apparently she was Pegasus's wife, her grandfather was a travelling monk, weary looking and grey, thin like a rake.

In the light of the crackling fire Yugi pulled a tarp out of their jeep, moving towards Sol and wrapping it around the shivering child before seating himself beside him. Sol cuddled up tightly, smiling at the fire.

"All we need are marshmallows." Joey poked at the flames.

Ryou laughed gently, leaning onto the American's shoulder with a heavy sigh of fatigue, "typical you to think about sweet food and make me wish for a hot cross bun."

"Well," Rebecca stated, swinging around from stirring the pot of stew over the flames, her dress puffing out at the action, "we have neither but this stew is to die for."

"Thank you," Malik offered to Pegasus, "for sharing your supplies with us."

"It's a knight's honour." The white haired man chuckled from his seat. He'd removed most of his armour, revealing a well toned body ready for an ounce of action. Whoever he'd once been in the Before Time, it had been someone who'd had the time to enjoy the more loving side of life.

Yugi licked his dry lips, tipping on a cup of water, tasting the contamination of it, though it had been boiled, it still tasted odd, not fresh, not like the true rain-water of the Before Time.

"So tell me," Joey scrubbed at his hair, "why you all travelling out this way? Knights ain't usually leaving their home sweet homes right? Yer not chasing dragons are ye? Or looking for revenge for a fallen comrade?"

Pegasus gave a cheerful laugh, shaking his head in mirth.

"No, no, nothing flamboyant like that." He looked to his delicate wife and glanced just briefly towards her shaded grandfather silent and sullen in the shadows, reading what looked to be a dusted old book. Rebecca, finishing serving the meal of stew, started to hand out bread.

"Each summer season his lordship the Earl of Hedingham will have a festival," Rebecca dusted at her dress, looking to her husband for a brief moment as Pegasus ate hungrily at the bread in his plate, "and a tournament for the dragon slayers to join his son's Knight-hood. The one who makes it to the final round to fight the Earl's son can join the Keep as a Knight and dragon-slayer. That is where we are heading, my husband wishes to fight once more to find his place amongst the great of the great."

Yugi rubbed at his neck, "fancy that." He frowned, "but if so many gather in one place...how do they keep away the dragons? You'd never be able to de-scent such a number of people and such an area..."

"Oh, my dear boy," the knight lifted his head up, "they have a Wizard." He grinned at the confused expressions given in reply to his words.

Ryou laughed suddenly in delight. "A wizard? You mean a man of science?"

"Indeed I do. His name is Seto Kaiba. I don't know how he does it, but somehow he's got the whole Keep covered in something truly astounding. No dragon in the country that'd sniff out and find that place."

There was a gleam in his eyes, something that spoke of words behind his words. Yugi lent slightly closer to watch the twitching of the man's lips and neck muscles. He wondered why he felt suddenly uneasy by the green of the knight's gaze as it glossed over their rag-tag group once more before they settled settling upon him.

Yugi twitched a finger, ignoring the stare as Sol gave a small squeal of delight at the serving of hot food. They needed this, the food, the water, the protection, tonight they needed this and he knew he couldn't jump on the slightest bit of suspicion inside.

Sol needed the food.

And so did he.

The night grew awfully dark, no moon to even gleam in the sky. Somewhere in the distance something was burning a red hue but it made little affect upon their safe little spot tucked away in a ditch of dirt.

Having wrapped Sol up tightly in blankets and tarps, warding off the freezing chill in the air Yugi settled down beside the boy.

Rebecca's grandfather hadn't said a word all evening, nor even turned from his book. He was beginning to doubt if the old man could even speak at all. The odd thing was, Yugi found himself utterly positive he knew the man from somewhere.

The answer eluded him as he lay silent, the crackling of the warm fire making a melody in his ears. Sol rolled around under the tarp, curling up tighter against him, making a small little mewing sound like a kitten. Yugi smiled sadly. He reached up a hand and touched the child's cold but flushed cheeks, kissing the boy softly.

Without realising it, he fell asleep, despite everything in him telling him not too.

It simply happened.

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Seto looked at the pair of knights.

"You're both insane." He finally summarised in all seriousness. "Dragons do not have genetic memory, you are not the result of ancient magic and technology, you don't have dragon eyes and you never gave away half your soul to...a giant fire breathing lizard. Are we clear...?"

Yami groaned, running his hands through his hair in frustration, "My father would not tell me this unless it was the truth, you know my father Seto, he is not a man who pulls my leg that far."

"I respect your father greatly Yami but this...they're dragons Yami, giant lizards who almost wiped out humanity once and have risen to do it again. They aren't intelligent. I know, I've run tests-."

"The Elders had gained intelligence because of their genetic memory. They held the thoughts and memories of every dragon before them...that would make you intelligent after a long time. Seto please," Yami walked after the tall man as he turned away towards a desk, "do a test, do something...if it comes up with nothing then I'll get off your back about it, but I need to find a way to unlock my memories during my reign as Pharaoh-."

"You were not a Pharaoh-."

"I was and part of me still is." Yami snapped, "heck Seto, my Father has books and books and files and pictures and stuff and all this he's gathered over years...all of it proves it. The damned existence of dragons proves it alone! And look at my eyes, haven't you ever wondered why I have such red, blood red, eyes. Do they look natural to you!?" The young heir grabbed the wizard firmly by the arm, wrenching him around, forcing him to look downward at his eyes.

Seto gave a small sigh of irritation, "why, why...why do you always get your way."

"Because he's cute and muchy sized." Bakura piped up from behind, still seated casually upon the couch, picking at his teeth.

"You won't be saying that when you meet my dragon half." Yami smiled.

Seto snorted, "alright, so you say you're already in contact with him and it only happens while your sleeping?"

"Yes. I think it has something to do with the golden pyramid he wears around his neck. It could be a piece of ancient technology from...well...when Atlantis existed." Yami turned back to the inventor who'd begun to slip off his over-robe, leaving him in a simple shirt and pants. He threw his gown at Bakura, making the white haired knight fumble around and fall off the couch.

Sliding into a seat beside a holographic screen Seto cracked his fingers, "Atlantis wasn't Egyptian..."

"It is now." Standing over Yami Bakura shrugged his shoulders, "apparently Mr. Pharaoh here had a couple thousand year reign of peace and love then everything went to hell and his pretty city was all eaten by the waters...flood...thing...yeah..."

"I would sew your mouth shut if I could, you know..." Seto grumbled, tapping at the holographic screen before him, "If this...pyramid thing your talk of is made up of a kind of technology that advanced that it can cause mental telepathy then I doubt I'd be able to pin-point it with what I have...however, if your genetic memories are...genetic, in your DNA then it might be possible to find a marker that'll activate the hidden sub-level wave...I'll have to knock you out."

Yami blinked as Seto suddenly swung in his direction, "Bakura, could you please."

"Pleasure would be mine, Wizard. Night, night Temmy!"

Yami had only a moment to flinch and wonder why he'd surrounded himself with people so willing to hurt him before he felt no more.

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_Someone was shaking him by the shoulders, in an almost frantic motion._

"_Come on, Pharaoh...wake up...that's it..."_

_He groaned, scrunching up his face, reaching behind his head to rub. "Damn it..." He hissed, "that hurt."_

"_I can imagine, you took a good sized fall there." The soft, angelic voice laughed delightedly. Yami frowned at the voice, it was similar to Yugi's but held none of the young man's dark humour or spite for existence within it. Instead it was cheerful, filled with a kind of light that Yami felt he could breathe. _

_Carefully he was eased into a sitting position, feeling a bed under him, with covers beautifully woven in a fabric that was soft and silken to the touch of his scarred finger-tips. The large, alabaster chamber was bathed in a sheen of bright sunlight, glistening off every piece of carved furniture and priceless artefact. Everything about the world cried perfection and beauty, even the large, royal bed had been created out of ivory, the hanging covering it in a drape fluttering in a soft breeze._

_A hand was gently rubbing his arm in a worried motion. He could feel the almost claw like finger-nails scratch his skin in a massaging manner, it didn't hurt, instead, it was familiar and restful._

_He jerked around, realising he was actually being touched. At his sharp movement whoever it was stopped._

_Yami felt himself staring, gaping at the person seated easily upon the wide bed, indenting the covers with far too much pressure for someone of such a thin frame, revealing that whoever it was, had to weight heavier than his appearance. _

_Slowly the person stood, silken white gown slipped over dark, ivory skin. Yami took in a deep breath in realisation. It was Yugi, down to the soft colour of his pale purple eyes and the odd colouring of his hair, though he had to admit, this version's locks were like fire itself, wild and bright. Yet even the structure of his face and limbs mirrored the version of Yugi he'd come to know between sleep and wakefulness. _

_Yet it wasn't Yugi. _

_The skin was too dark, the age in his brow reflected someone who'd lived through much, much more and the smile, the smile could never have been upon Yugi's face. It was a smile of someone who loved life, who embraced life, to found enjoyment in the smallest of small things. _

_It was beautiful. _

_Then there was that fact that he couldn't have been human, not with the way he walked in an elongated stride around the bed as though he had more joints in his legs, with an eyebrow raised in curiosity, the long white robe he wore, such a simple, plan garment, looking like pure milk over his dark tinged skin. No, no, he wasn't human, there was nothing human about him, despite being in such a human form._

_The young man tipped his head to one side in a playful motion._

"_Atemu...what is it? Why by Ra are you looking at me so oddly? I haven't changed since last night you know." A hand was pressed to his forehead; it felt warm against his skin, too hot to be the right temperature for a human. "Hmm, still cold...so Sol didn't pass on his fever to you then."_

"_I'm..." Yami gasped at his rough voice, touching his throat in surprise. He'd never sounded that odd before, in fact, he wasn't even sure if he was speaking English, no, that word had come out in a totally different language._

"_Atemu?"_

"_I'm not...I'm not your Atemu..." He finally managed to splutter the words out._

"_Ah..." The young man laughed, waving a hand extravagantly, "I told him you'd pop by one-day and he didn't believe me. Word of advice, not-my-Atemu, always trust your dragon's judgment...unless it's wrong, which," he sighed sadly, "I have been wrong once or twice, I'll admit to that, but..." He pointed, "I'm usually right!" _

_Yami followed the humanoid dragon's movement to a desk where the slim hands picked up a few things before the slender body turned around. There was no distinction between sex, now that he thought about it, with the white gown, he could have been looking at a preteen female with little mature form or a very, very small man. _

_He approached the bed once more, rubbing at his chin thoughtfully, "I'm guessing you're here because you need to remember who you once were..." He tied back his waves of fiery hair with a band, jumping high and landing upon the bed with a playful ease, as if gravity didn't even bother him._

_Yami backed up slightly, pressing into the pillow behind him as the youth sat down in front of him._

"_Yes...I...think." Gulping Yami glanced around the room once more, this time smelling the sea breeze. He wanted to get up, to look out that balcony window and see whatever magnificent city lay beyond. What splendour had humans and dragons created, what had been destroyed in fire and rage?_

"_Not-my-Atemu, my name is Heba, I am the most dangerous creature on this planet and beyond that to the stars...oh how the stars feared me but you...you tamed me by offering me what no one else could...your soul." A leer was added. _

"_What...did you offer...offer me in return?" Yami whispered._

_Heba chuckled, "my eyes and my ever-lasting devotion to you and yours. It was a two way deal, we are one, you and I, not-my-Atemu."_

_Suddenly Yami felt his chin as it was grabbed by a delicate hand and he was yanked into staring through pale purple eyes. Gently clawed hair with iron nails was brushed through his hair, causing him to shiver slightly as the humanoid dragon before him hummed softly, a tune he found vaguely familiar. The song died away and the dragon tipped his head once more, "this is going to hurt alright..."_

_Yami frowned.  
"What?"_

"_This will hurt, it'll burn, my fire will pass into you but you'll remember...let the fire linger within you and you will remember. You ready?"_

"_Ah...no-." _

_Before he could finish the sentence, the dragon had sucked into a deep breath and with a simple, sweep towards him, shoved it through his mouth and down his throat into his chest. _

_He was right, it burned._

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Yugi woke. He knew before his eyes opened that something was wrong. The air was to still, the silence to painful. The dawn had barely risen, the land a hue of muddy red, betraying a bad omen. Yugi cursed softly, "no...I fell asleep."

He didn't even consider that he had not dreamed of his knight, it didn't matter, not now as he stared around his sleeping companions, trying to figure what was triggering his alarm in his groggy state.

Sol wiggled under him, "Dad?" The child mumbled and rubbed sleep from his eyes.

"Shh, Sol." Yugi carefully stood, gazing around rocky surrounds, the mutated plants twisted and contorted from radiation contamination in the water that fed them.

"Dad?" Sol bit his lips as Yugi knelt to pick up his long, sharp tipped pole. "Dad?"

"I said be quite Solomon." Yugi covered the boy in a blanket, "stay there and don't you dare move. Do you hear me," he darkened his tone, "don't move. You stay right there, I don't care if you see something, stay under that blanket!"

He crept across the gravelly ground, hearing the whispers in the air, the feeling that something wasn't right. It was trickling all through his veins, yelling at him, speaking to him that they were in danger.

Then it clicked. Like a wash of recollection. They'd met travellers the latter evening, they'd eaten with them, talked with them, camped with them and now they were nowhere to be seen. Something else was missing from his vision across their small camp. Yugi stared in sudden realisation as to why the scene looked so wrong. There was no jeep.

"Oh no...no...no." Yugi lunged for Joey. He kicked the blond out of his sleep. "JOEY! Get up!"

The American jumped up with a howl and grabbed for a weapon before noting Yugi beside him.

"Yug, what, is it Raiders!?" He snarled.

"No..." Yugi bowed his head, "those...travellers..." He slid slowly to his knees in despair. Joey gave a small back-step, glancing around in confusion. Both Malik and Ryou had risen, the two men in the same state of denial. Sol had peered out from under his blanket, the child sobbing from the intense faces of the young men around him.

"That...that...that...words won't describe him...he just....just...up and left us during the night!?!" Joey shouted suddenly, "he...he took our jeep!"

Malik was scrambling around, the Egyptian growling darkly, "And he didn't leave us with anything. Yugi, those supplies he gave us, they're all gone."

"Dad...Dad..." Sol tugged Yugi's shirt, "what are we going to do?"

Yugi closed his eyes, bowing his head and gently resting it in the boy's lap. His limbs were tired, the strain and stress beginning to physically manifest. He knew his body was going to collapse soon from the lack of adrenalin, from the lack of water and food. One meal wouldn't be enough. He was so tired of fighting, of never knowing the next day and of never waking up in peace.

"I...I don't know Solomon, I don't know Jii-chan, I don't know anymore..."

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Yami coughed, wrenching for cold, cold air, sucking it into his lungs at the fast rate as his limbs burned from under the skin. It was as if his blood had become molten lava, raging through his heart, being pumped around his body and he could feel every beat pulse.

A hand sized his shoulder, shaking him, passing him a glass of water that he snagged in vigour and drank, ignoring that half of it went down his shirt.

"Temmy? You alright?"

Yami collapsed back onto the couch in Seto's chamber, allowing his twitching body time to slowly recover. He rubbed at his brow.

"Ra no..." He hissed, "that hurt! I can't believe he did that, the little twixt."

"Um...Seto, did you understand a word he just said?" Bakura's tone was slightly concerned, "maybe I hit him too hard?"

"Doubt it, I've studied your technique, you submit the right amount of force naturally, in whatever situation as though you where a well trained marital artist, which you are not."

Bakura raised an eyebrow. "Right. I'm going to ignore you again Seto..."

"You do that."

Yami blinked, slowly opening his eyes, staring at the two men standing over him, looking at him worriedly.

"Guys? What are you talking about?"

"Atemu, you need to speak English, I really don't understand a word you're saying." Bakura pointed to himself, "English."

"English?" Forcing himself to sit up Yami touched his head, "I'm not speaking English."

"Well you are now." Seto frowned. "How many fingers am I holding up?" He held out a hand. Yami squinted at it.

"I have no idea; I don't have my glasses on, step back a couple paces and I'd be able to tell."

"Right, he's back." Bakura pounded his friends shoulder happily. "So, Temmy, did it work? Seto did his voo doo stuff on you, apparently you have some kind of freaky marker implanted into your DNA. Ha, you were right..."

"The question is not if it worked, it's if he remembers?" Seto offered, passing Yami another drink that he quickly gulped down, feeling his cheeks were still flushed. Slowly he was beginning to piece together whatever had transpired. He had been someplace else, not where he usually visited during his dreams, but a world that was not like the one he lived within now and the Yugi he had seen hadn't been the Yugi he knew.

"Heba." He whispered, his eyes widening suddenly and he stood, stumbling around the table, staring between Bakura and Seto, shaking his head as he covered his mouth, hot tears scorching his cheeks.

"Atemu..." Bakura held out his hands, "its alright...calm down-."

"Calm down!" Yami shouted, "oh my, I...I...I'm...I'm dead! That son-of-a-bitch killed me!"

"Okay, he's lost it." Bakura slapped his head and groaned, "I knew this was a bad idea from the start."

"No, no, this wasn't a bad idea Bakura, this was a very, very good idea..." Yami gulped, "I just...I just have to sort out my memories...I've got thousands of years of memories. Forgive me for being slightly unstable." He tripped and landed on the hard stone floor.

"Oh, it worked." Seto gave a chuffed puff of his chest, "I am a genius."

"Shut up," Bakura shoved past him, kneeling down beside his friend to touch his shoulder carefully, "Yami...you really remember?"

Yami smiled weakly, rubbing away the tears leaking down his cheeks, noticing the odd colour of them, a golden shine as though he was weeping liquid gold. Dragon tears for his dragon eyes. He tipped his head back, pressing it to a wall.

"I'm fine, Bakura..." he looked to his friend and it felt, oddly enough, as though he was seeing him for the first time; who he was, who he'd once been, such a long time ago. Every line, curvature and wrinkle was the same upon Bakura's face as the face he now knew from a past so ancient and a world so strange that he would never find the words to describe it. He bubbled up a slightly insane laugh, "No...I'm better than fine." He pressed his head into Bakura's shoulder, going limp in exhaustion as the fire in his body continued to smoulder, "because it worked Bakura...I'm not insane, I'm really, really not insane."

Bakura chuckled and hugged the young heir. "Well, at least that makes one of us."

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Apparently Seto's tweaking of his brain had taken the entire night. Therefore the new day he was graced with as he stepped out of the dungeons below was almost startling. He felt as though he had missed so much in such a short time. Bakura held his arm, the white knight looking anxiously at him from time to time and he supposed the man had the right to be worried, considering he kept lapsing into a foreign language.

It felt like it would take months to shift through everything buzzing around in his mind, what memories there were on the surface, where simple ones, of people and places, the old language itself, everyday things of little importance. The deeper memories he knew would take time to unlock, to shift around, to make sure he wouldn't change his personality just because he could recall a life-time lived by himself in another period all together.

Then there were the memories of Heba, the beautiful, startlingly beautiful Eldest of the Elders. Not Ancient Ones, that was the useless name humans had equated with them. They had been called the Elders.

Heba was by far the most prominent of his memories; it was all he could do to contain himself from running off, grabbing a horse and searching for Yugi, just make sure his current version of the dragon was alive and well. He wanted nothing more than to bring to that young man's face the smile and happiness he'd seen upon his ancient self, somehow he would discover a way to bring Yugi back that forgotten joy.

But he had to be careful, he had to figure this out logically and not jump into anything he couldn't get out of. Right now, he just had to gain his bearings.

"Come on Temmy, lets head down to breakfast, you need a good meal." Bakura tugged him towards a stair-well.

Yami nodded, "okay..."

"Man Temmy, you looked stoned." Bakura chuckled, aiding him down the stairs to the great underground hall.

"I feel stoned." Yami grumbled, touching his pounding head.

"So, what did you see?"

"Heba..."  
"Who?"

"Ah...the Pharaoh's dragon-half, his name was Heba...he seemed to know that I wasn't...the right Atemu or something. Felix, the room I was in was amazing...you should have seen it! And, and Heba himself...there was no way you could mistake him for a human, he looked like this divine being...a dragon, my dragon."

"Okay...wonderful Temmy, that's...er...great."

They entered the great hall, the underground chamber a large dug out hole, large pillars holding up a roof of stone. All around large wooden tables where set up, where the folk of the community ate happily, the visitors that'd come for the festival easy to spot amongst the gathering.

"Temmy, you sure you're not going to go insane by having another life-time shoved into your skull."

Yami winced. "No, I'll be fine, I just need coffee, really strong coffee and then I need to sit down somewhere nice and quiet and just think."

"Right, well, let get you some food and coffee and then I'll take you back to your father's office and leave you there. I'll do the rounds for you today, alright..."

Yami nodded, surprised Bakura's tone was so gentle, having none of its usual snarl to it. In fact, it almost sounded as if his way-ward white knight cared.

He wasn't practically sure if that was a good sign or not...

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Yami sat upon the window ledge, amongst the pillows that adorned the seating. The air outside was slightly cool, tickling his bare skin. He itched his nose, sighing heavily and propped his head back upon the window wall. The sunset was streaking the sky outside of Seto's great shield, tainted earth being painted in soft pastel hues.

He ached so painfully inside. Nothing of the day's mundane greetings of travellers nor the playing with the children, the aiding in the kitchens, could compare to what he wished for, what he could see in his mind so clearly.

Now that he was aware that he was missing half of his soul, he could feel the tug from somewhere inside. It was almost laughable, the idea of someone being able to split their essence, what made them human, give it to a dragon, a beast of fury and rage.

But he desired to be close to the beautiful creature that held the rest of him, like a moth to flame.

The large wooden door creaked open but he didn't shift from his seat, knowing already who it was, his father, obviously. The man's heavy foot-steps revealed his presence, the strong, sturdy leader who could become the gentle presence of a father with a flick of his wrist.

"So, my son, how does it feel to know you are an ancient king of a civilisation that cannot even be compared to what we had in the Before Time?"

"Odd." Yami corked his head to one side, "yes...odd."

"Very poetic." Atum chuckled, seating himself upon the cushion, reaching out and gently patting his son's leg.

Yami gave a weak smile. "It feels strange but yet natural as if I've kind of half known it all my life, but what is worse is...now that I know, father, I can feel the pain of being parted from such a beautiful creature. I can remember how our lives ended, how he defended me to his last breath." He bowed his head into his knees, tucking himself up tightly. "Is it wrong to love a beast...a...dragon...?"

Atum chuckled, "if I recall correctly, my son, this beast of yours was declared the most beautiful creature in creation, so...no...I don't think it is wrong to love a beast that you gave half your soul too so that humanity would have a chance." He brushed back a blond lock of the young knight's fringe. "Only those who followed after you in the manner of trading their souls would, though, understand the desire you have to be close to a dragon. Many will see them as the killers they are."

"Yugi is not a killer..."

"He is, my son, and he will be, for you he will kill and he will defend those he loves to his death...you said it yourself. Even under his human guise, he will always be a territorial dragon and the Eldest of the Ancient Ones at that."

Yami groaned, "Father..."

"It's the truth son. You know that."

"These memories are going to take months to sort through father, I can't know everything..."

Atum stood, giving his son a tender gaze. "I have the utmost faith in you." He chuckled, "you wouldn't be my son, without your little mood swings."

"I do not have mood swings!"

"Get some sleep," Atum pointed to the doorway, "go on, go visit your yonder dragon. You were a good boy today and helped me with the visitors despite all this going on, now...off you go, get some shut eye."

Yami carefully stood, making sure he was stable on his feet before giving his father a weak smile. The man tugged on his grey beard, shaking his head at the tipsy young knight as he wandered with an exhausted slouch to his usually fluid movements, towards the door and vanishing out it.

The Earl rubbed his sweaty aged hands upon the rough fabric of his pants, easing himself down to where his son had been sitting, the perfect view out into their community. Though most of it lay safe underground, roofs of houses could be seen and the fields where crops where grown where strewn in colour of their produce.

"Ah, Solomon...funny how in the end, you where so right, I wish I listened to you, old friend...maybe if we'd kept them together, they'd have saved the world before it was destroyed..." He mused softly, closing his eyes, envisioning the picture of the cheerful little old man, clutching his three year old grandson tightly, waving goodbye within the air-port terminal. The last he'd seen of the Dragonoligist and his beautiful, bright and precious little grandchild.

"Oh how fate weaves her ever tangling web..."

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_Despite the fact that Bakura had been snoring like a fog horn, on purpose by the sounds of the inhuman sounds, Yami had discovered sleep had been surprisingly simple to bring about with a simple calming of his mind. He half hoped he'd return to that past world of Atlantis, to see Heba again, to witness that beautiful creature within the brightness of the white, pale walls._

_He couldn't say he was disappointed when he found himself in the dream-world he shared with Yugi, the grey was clearer, as if the fog of ash surrounding the grounds was clearing with each passing time he arrived. Or maybe it was because he was becoming clearer in who he was and what the connection meant. Even the ground under his bare feet, that had once been gravel and cobble stones, was beginning to look a little bit more like fresh green grass._

_He wandered silently for a time, thinking of the past, trying to discern if the him he had been, the Pharaoh, had experienced such times of being in an in-between world with his version of Yugi. Nothing came to mind and he shoved the thought aside, instead focusing on the right-now. Perched upon a rock, near a tree that was becoming less grey with each passing moment, Yugi's form was outlined, sullen and sodden in appearance._

_Yami gulped, sensing the air was not a good one._

_Something had happened._

_Carefully he approached, "Yugi?" He offered._

_The young man seemed to acknowledge him just slightly with a raise of his eyes, gazing over him in his stripped-down version of his usual day-wear. He hadn't been bothered changing, just climbed into bed to collapse._

_Yugi looked haggard, worn and strung like a string. It was almost painful to see._

"_Oh...hey..." Yugi whispered, "look who finally showed up. Yay."_

"_By the tone of your sarcasm, I take it you had a bad day."_

"_Genius you are, handsome." A finger was pointed in his direction. _

"_So they say." Yami pressed carefully. "So...what happened?"_

"_I got tricked...fooled...lost our jeep, and our supplies...and Sol's picture, he did such a pretty picture." Yugi hid his head in shame. "I'm an idiot, a right old idiot. I should have never trusted anyone, I should have listened to my gut instinct but Sol needed the water, we needed the damned water!"_

_Yami frowned, "What do you mean?" _

"_It's nothing, don't...don't concern yourself." Yugi bit back tears. Yami forced himself not to envelop the hurting young man in a tight embrace, as he would have, once, long ago. _

"_It's not like there is anything you can do about it." The young man folded himself into a small ball, "we're all going to die...and I...I can't do anything about it."_

_Staring at the dejected form Yami closed his eyes for a moment, hating the feeling welling up in his chest. The idea that he was looking at a beautiful and yet painfully torn version of himself. Did the young man even know anything of what their dreams meant? _

_He had the inverted pyramid free around his neck, the golden sheen of it dull in their strange between-world. His memories were clear, this young man was who he thought he was, his other half, his dragon, his beautiful soul-partner from thousands of years prier. That golden pyramid said it all._

_Gulping back saliva Yami carefully approached and eased himself down to sit beside Yugi._

"_Tell me about yourself..." Yami tried his most tender of smiles, forcing the conversation else-where, "please?"_

_Yugi glanced towards the knight in mild confusion, "why?" He dusted at his loose fringe._

"_Well...we can't just keep battering at each other can we? If we're both in each other's dreams maybe we should start learning about each other."_

_Giving a puff of his cheeks Yugi shrugged, "I suppose..."_

"_You...believe I'm real?" Yami forced down the hope in his tone, praying he didn't sound too relieved of excited at the idea of being considered real._

"_I got convinced by someone..." Yugi poked the knight's arm in weary mirth. Then paused and frowned, staring at his finger before poking the knight again. "Wow...are you muscled or what? You have a plate of iron under your skin..."_

"_I work out a lot." Yami ducked his head, "and I weld a rather large sword."_

"_I use a pole at the moment," Yugi pouted, "lost all my dragon slaying gear when we fled our community." He rubbed his temples, groaning, "I don't know how much longer we can keep going without food or water...if we had the jeep it'd just be another day till we reach the nearest town but now...on...foot...I...I don't know if Sol will make it. I should be up keeping watch for Raiders, not chatting in a dream with a Knight, I should be thinking of ways to bury my son and my friends..."_

"_How many are you travelling with?" Yami whispered in concern, sensing that things might have gone from worse to worse. Was that what Yugi had meant, that they'd lost their jeep._

_Yugi tapped a foot, amused that he actually had to stop and think for a moment, he was really losing it, "Me, Sol, Joey, Kala, Malik and Ryou...that's six." He counted his fingers, "Sol is struggling without water, he was already not having enough back at the community, I have no idea how long it's been since he's had a solid drink of fully-non-contaminated water. We just need water...just...fresh water...funny how life all comes down to one simple requirement."_

"_I wonder...if..." Yami glanced around the grey-washed dream world, his mind clicking over thoughts, things he knew he should have remembered but where not fully within his mind yet, "if I could give you water."_

"_What?" Yugi wrenched around in confusion._

"_Well," Yami pointed to himself and his lack of attire, "I come here with whatever I'm wearing so...what if I come here holding something?" The Knight grinned. "Give me moment alright, I'll be right back!" _

"_Wait!" Yugi held out his hands as the knight vanished in a whiff of smoke._

_He had barely a moment to consider what had just happened before Yami appeared once more, standing in almost the exact spot he'd been standing in before._

_Yami stared at the water-casters in his hands, bundled up with a netted bag, and then towards Yugi who was gaping at him with wide, beautiful eyes, no longer full of spite and hatred._

_The young heir blushed slightly from the study he was receiving, "Ah...sorry I took so long; getting to sleep again is rather hard-."_

"_You were gone...only a few seconds..." Yugi brushed him off, staring at the collected water bottles netted together. "Is that?"_

"_Water, yes." Yami grinned in victory. "It worked."_

"_Oh gosh," Yugi bit his lips and grabbed the netted bag in sudden thrill, his eyes wide in hope, "its water!" He practically squealed_

"_For...Solomon." Yami nodded. _

_Yugi raised an eyebrow, glancing towards Yami in slight confusion, "how...how did you know his full name?"_

"_I...made an educated guess. Sol, right, short for Solomon. I'm making another guess in saying you didn't name him after King Solomon in the Bible?"_

_Yugi raised an eyebrow, paused, and gave a small, ever so tiny, delighted laugh. Though, Yami was sure it was more of a giggle, the kind a child would use if caught in an awkward moment and he knew, the moment he heard it, that he would devote his entire life to hearing that sound from those lips again, and again, as often as he could. He wanted that laughter, the laughter of a beast who'd learnt be human, who'd desired to learn love and grief like a human. A dragon who wanted what humans had – emotion and spiritually._

_Yami shivered._

"_No...though I...I think my grandfather might have chosen it as his English name because it was King Solomon who inspired him to get into archaeology...you know, King Solomon's Mine or something like that....Sol is named after my grandfather." Yugi scrubbed at his hair, "he didn't have a name when I found him, just lying there, ready to die." The young man made a small movement with his hands, indicating size, "such a tiny little child he was. I didn't think he'd live past the first night I found him but he did, he lived and he kept living. He even caught the measles and he still lived."_

"_Then he'll be with you a little longer," Yami spoke softly._

_Yugi gave a faint, weak smile of gratitude for the encouragement. "I hope so. Sometimes I have to wonder," Yami watched as Yugi touched the small inverted golden pyramid around his neck, speaking as he gazed at the dark, grey sky above them, "if he's the universes way of saying sorry for taking my grandfather from me...because, in all honesty, he looks so much like my son, he'd have to be related but as far as I know, you don't randomly find your grandfather as child in a ditch, starving and dying..."_

"_I don't know, Yugi," Yami mused, "we live in a changed world, a world of magic and dragons."_

"_Who gave you that quote?"_

"_My father."_

"_Hmp," Yugi snorted, "sounds like something a father would say."_

_Yami laughed. Beside him the smaller man shifted, staring at him with a curious expression._

"_What?"_

"_You're laughing." _

"_People do it when they're amused, you should try it some time, break that hard shell you have. In fact I recommend laughing once a day."_

_Yugi rolled his eyes, giving a smirk for good gesture, "you say the oddest of things, dragon."_

_Yami laughed again, "I am not the dragon here-."_

_Yugi twisted suddenly, startling Yami as the young man's eyes widened and his hand flung to his shoulder, staring at the blood that was already beginning to leak from under the shirt. Yami winced, touching his own arm, blinking in confusion before realising the problem. _

"_Yugi?" The young knight moved in a swift lung for the young man, "Yugi, you need to wake up." _

_Yugi's wide eyes looked into the knights, staring at the blood leaking from his arm, "I'm really, really not dreaming am I?" _

_He vanished in a whiff of ash and dust._

_Yami cursed aloud, giving a frustrated shout, wincing in pain and clutching his arm. "Damn it...how do you help someone when you have no idea where they are!?"_

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Yugi wrenched upwards as the pain flared through his arm. He shifted easily, like a wraith, twisting his body over Sol's. In a single motion he grabbed for the thin knife hidden between his thighs and swung it up and around. Whoever it had been that had done damage to his body had no chance as the blade keenly swept through their jaguar vein. Yugi kicked his legs upwards and sent the larger body tumbling backwards as he flipped over Sol, couched low to glare around the dark camp in the light of the muggy pre-dawn.

Slowly he stood, taking note that there was no-further disturbances and Sol seemed completely solid in his sleeping pattern. Placing his knife between his teeth Yugi crouched beside the slain body, pushing it over and raising an eyebrow at the disfigured face wide eyed in surprised death. The stench was almost painful, the smell of unwashed skin, the odour of urine arising from stained, ratted clothing created from human-flesh and pieced together like a patch-work-quilt.

The man had to be a Raider, but why one single Raider would sneak up in the light of a pre-dawn he couldn't fathom. Yugi hissed, glancing at his arm, staring at the blood that was now running freely down his skin.

"Great," he muttered between the knife in his teeth, "just great, just what I needed...a bloody wound that could get infected..." He glanced down at the inverted pyramid with a hiss, "come on, pretty golden thingy, glow and make me feel better," He spat out his knife, "or at least get rid of the rotting corpse you hunk of useless ancient metal..." Yugi paused, his eyes falling on the gleam of metal and he noted what the Raider must have been after. Lying beside Sol, under the ruffles of blankets where he'd just been laying in sleep, where the gathered eight water bottles tied together in netting.

Yugi's mouth slipped open.

"Real..." He reached out, touching it, prodding it, his smile grew increasingly larger. He picked up the netting, licking his lips at the desire to taste the fresh, uncontaminated water. A small slip of paper fell out, rolling onto Sol. Yugi crouched and picked it up with a finger and a thumb, gazing at it and sniffing it.

It smelt of herbs, rich, rich spice and herbs. Carefully, with his tongue between his teeth he opened the folded sheet, staring in awe at the neat handwriting swept over the page in rolls of beautiful script.

"Yugi, I'm real. Hold onto hope. I will find you. When next you sleep, I'll bring you food. Please, don't give up hope. I will find you. Atemu Amir, Heir of Hedingham."

Yugi bit his lips, collapsing back on his backside, holding the paper in his fingers as he pressed it to his forehead, tears dribbling down his cheeks as he gave a sob of sheer, undefined relief.

"Someone cares..." He looked to Sol, "someone cares..." He reached for the boys cheek, stroking it, "Solomon...someone really cares, I'll get you to him, I promise." He bent, kissing the sleeping child's forehead, "we'll keep surviving."

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_Call me insane, but I'm considering rewriting Those Distant Stars from the beginning again, totally new plot and everything..._

_Am I insane..._

_Yes..._

_I think I am. _

_Ouch._

_Actually, maybe I'm just sad, sick and bored...(someone take me out to coffee...please...)_

_Oh well, happy face! =D _

_Hope you enjoyed the story update._

_Cheers my friends._

_T.W.W_


	5. tHC Book 1 Chapter 4

_Well...bother, the test for arthritis came back positive. Um...so I've had another to make sure its not a false blimp, I really hope it's a false test. _

_But hey, who'd have known that I'd get into gardening because I'm sick. I guess when life slows down around you, you get the time to stop and stare at flowers and really see how special they are._

_So, thank you all for being such special flowers. *hugs*  
_

_Hope you enjoy the update. _

_Hugs and all that!_

The Hedingham Chronicles

Book 1: Walk of Fire

By: T.W.W

**Chapter 4: Eldest and Elders**

"Gee, Yug..." Joey scrubbed at his head as he stared at the dead Raider they had dragged into a hole, "you just...slit his throat with Sol right next to you?"

"What?" Yugi glared up at the blond who gave a small back-step at the feral glint in the little man's eyes. "Did you want me to take him away to kill him and leave you all sleeping like dead animals? Sol slept through the whole thing and it's not like he's never seen a dead body before."

"The kid's innocent Yugi." Joey muttered, "he needs to keep that innocence while it can last. He's, what, five years old?"

"Well old enough to know that his father will protect him against," Yugi spat at the dead corpse, "radiation-rat, scum. I rather the dragons than a human gone insane...remember seeing what they did to that hunting party we sent out once." He sniffed, rubbing a hand to his nose. "I will not let that happen to Sol nor Kala...or any of you for that matter. If one Raider finds out about us, we're all dead!"

Joey cringed, almost as though the memory caused pain. "Okay, okay, point taken."

They both started back towards the camp. Their combined frustration obvious, yet both working to conceal it least it caused more tension amongst the group. None had asked where Yugi had found the water, maybe, he guessed, they thought it had belonged to the Raider. He'd kept the note close, pocketing it, trying to wonder if the beautiful scripted hand-writing reflected anything of its owner.

Who he knew now for sure existed. Somewhere, over that horizon, a knight in a castle actually existed with red eyes as burning and dark as the eyes of the dragon he'd seen such a long time ago.

The world was truthfully a strange place.

Joey placed a hand upon Yugi's shoulder, causing the young man to bring himself out his self infused daze, "Yug...just...just out of curiosity...?"

"Yeah?"

The blond breathed out deeply, "what do we do if they do overwhelm us, the Raiders, I mean?"

"Kill Kala, Sol and Ryou first, a quick death at our hands would be far better than a death caused by a Raider, then if you get the time, kill yourself." Yugi stated darkly, touching the pistol and dagger strapped to his thigh.

Joey nodded, "thought so. Man Yug..." He thinned his lips, "you ever felt like your life is missing something? Like..." The blond paused, staring around the scarred landscape, the yellow hued horizon betraying a world tainted, a world that would take centuries upon centuries to heal. They'd barely seen the beginning of it. "Like...this world...is kind of...well...you know, I keep having these odd dreams."

Yugi perked up suddenly, "you do?"

"Yeah..." Joey scrubbed at his mop of shaggy hair in faint embarrassment. "There're about this city, by the sea and there be these flying boats, not like old aeroplanes or anything, something cooler. More sci-fi-y-ish...thingy you know."

Yugi shrugged, "just dreaming of a better place?" He offered.

"Nah," Joey shook his head, "Yug, this is gonna sound weird, but I'm there, like really there, and I'm not human. I'm flying."

"Joey," Yugi pressed a hand to his friends chest, lying it flat and giving him a gentle smile, "we live in a world of magic and dragons, anything is possible." With a small spin on his boots he wagered off, calling out, "Sol! Come on, get off the rock, which, by the way, isn't actually rock but solidified dragon poop."

"But Dad, I found a really cool looking gem, it's all blue and stuff. I bet is magic Dad! Like in your stories!" Sol peered over the large rock he'd managed to somehow climb. Yugi gazed up at the terror, placing his hands upon his hips.

"Pick it up and get down, I'm not having you break an arm or something like that. Come on, off the rock!"

"Catch me!"

"No."

"Please."

"No."

"Please, please, please, please-."

"Fine, jump into my arms oh rug-rat of mine."

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Bakura slurped.

Yami winced at the sound, cringing into his seat within the large underground hall, trying hard to ignore the fact that beside him his best friend was happily slurping up the meat-malls and spaghetti that had been served for lunch. The hall was a buzz of activity, different things going on in allocated areas for the children of those who'd travelled the distance for the festival. He liked the new faces, the fun things that could be done during the two weeks, it wasn't just a tournament for the knights, it was about humans coming together to enjoy life, not in fear of the future, but in pleasure to the present.

Bakura slurped again.

Snapping Yami jerked towards the white knight of his entourage. "Felix! Must you! It sounds awful."

"English Temmy." Bakura smirked, "can't understand it when you speak Ancient Atlantian." He wiggled his fingers playfully.

Yami groaned, thumping his head upon the large wooden table a few times, muttering under his breath something he was sure he would be struck over the head for by his father if the old man sitting beside him knew what he was actually saying.

"Atemu, what are you doing?" Atum frowned at the young man beside him.

"Trying to beat his freaky new memories out of his head I bet." Bakura slung back into his chair, grinning happily at the Earl. "Poor Temmy, all muddled up and missing his pretty little Yugi-."

Without looking up Yami firmly hit Bakura in the chest with a clenched fist. The white knight toppled from his wooden chair, landing hard on the floor.

Yami pointed at him, head still on the table. "Make fun of me and I will lock you in the dungeons with Seto for a month!" He spoke in full English, causing his father to smile just faintly, watching as Bakura brushed himself off, growling and daring for a moment to ruffle Yami's head of hair.

The Earl shook his head at the pair, his attention shifting just slightly as he noted an approaching stranger, he frowned trying to recollect the face to mind. The knight was around his own age, with pale grey hair chopped around a chiselled chin that caused a pointed nose to look slightly hooked. Atum reached out, touching his son's back gently, "Son...Pegasus has returned to try again."

"What?!" Yami sat up suddenly, looking around the hall, spotting the tall knight approaching their large table. "Oh...no...no...not him, I hate that man." Yami hissed and sunk low into his seat like a five year old child hiding from a plate of vegetables.

Atum chuckled, pinching his son's nose, "oh, but watching you fight him is very entertaining."

"Yeah, and watching you beat him is even more entertaining." Bakura chuckled softly. "Man that was a good match last year."

Yami groaned. "I want out of this now."

"No, my son, you are the champion of the region, you have to defend that title."

"I decided I don't want it anymore...my head is too full of stuff to think, I'm too worried about Yugi."

Bakura offered. "Well, loose to me and I can take it from you, then you can worry all you like about your bruised ego."

"Shut up!" Starting to lift a fist once more to hit his friend Yami paused only when his father glared, causing both young men to calm instantly and settle into their chairs, looking the picture of perfection for young lordly knights. It was amazing that a simple glare could hold them so firmly in line.

Strolling boldly up to the main table of the adorned hall, Pegasus's high-pitched snivelling little voice spoke up amongst the mayhem of sounds.

"My lord Atum Amir." The elegant man stepped forward with a royal bow, pulling back his silken cloak to make show of his shined armour and beautifully woven clothing.

Atum nodded in greeting, "Knight of Maximillion, Pegasus...you grace us with your presence once again."

"I will always return, my lord, to try once more to better your son and prove myself worthy of being amongst his great dragon-slayer knights."

"Oh yes, because we slay so many dragons these days..." Bakura whispered, "hopefully not your new boy-friend."

Yami struck Bakura hard in the gut under the table, snarling under his breath, "for your big fat information, Yugi hasn't got a sex, he just doesn't know that yet."

"What!?"

"Ask Seto to bring you back your memories of another life and see how you feel!" Yami hissed.

"I am SURE my SON is honoured by your presence!"

Yami flinched, whispering an apology to his father before turning to face Pegasus, looking upwards into the man's grey eyes, shivering at the silver sheen they gave off, as though he was silently snarling under his brow, mocking them.

"An honour I return. Atemu-boy, good to see you again."

"Yes, hello Sir Pegasus." Yami dipped his voice low, "by the way, I stopped being a boy about six years ago, you may reframe from addressing me as a child and show me the respect you should equate me with."

The stare between the knights broke as Pegasus shifted his gaze away from Yami, back towards the Earl, holding out an elegant hand.

"I also bring a gift, my lord." Pegasus smiled warmly.

Atum raised his grey eyebrows in slight surprise, "my good knight, I wish nothing from those who travel far-."

"A jeep, my lord," Pegasus spread his hands, throwing a set of keys upon the table. "We found it abandoned on the old main-highway."

"Interesting..." Atum picked up the keys, dangling them for a moment before throwing them towards Yami. Quickly the young man caught them, "off you go son, give those to Seto, I'm sure he'd find such a creation useful in his work."

Yami nodded, "yes Father." Rising to his feet Yami grabbed Bakura by the scruff of his shirt, "come, Felix, let us not linger and interrupt the old men."

Dragging the white knight away Yami ducked out the nearest door, sighing in relief. Bakura re-set his shirt, glaring at his friend. "Quick exit there?"

"You know how much I hate that man." Yami breathed out deeply, rubbing a hand through his fringe, glancing at the keys dangling from his wrist for a moment in an odd thought.

"Yes..." Bakura ignored Yami's odd expression, "I know, I hate him too but...oh great Pharaoh of some amazing past, shouldn't you be a master of negotiation or something? I mean, you ruled an apparently awesome kingdom of-."

"They're jeep keys?" Yami mused.

"What?"

"Jeep keys?"

Bakura stared at him oddly, "Yeah, a jeep, so what?"

"Well," Yami pursed his lips, "Yugi said he'd lost his jeep-."

"Temmy," Bakura shook his head, "The world doesn't revolve one little Yugi...oh, hey Mai, great food, I loved the spaghetti!" The white knight waved to the approaching blond beauty.

"Thank you sweetie," she smiled, before siding up to Yami and with a simple movement wacked him firmly over the head.

Yami winced in pain, "ouch..."

"You deserve it!" She stomped off.

Yami rubbed at the offended area.

Bakura bent down, whispering, "Well, at least she didn't kick your jewels, cause she looked in the mood. She needs a sign or something, like 'all males beware' written all over her. Come on, let's hurry away from all this and go beat each other up."

"I thought the idea was not to get ourselves beaten up so that we're in top-form to fight." Yami scrubbed his head, wondering what on earth he'd done to provoke Mai's wrath, then again, that woman usually didn't need a reason to hit anyone.

"Maybe," Bakura hummed, "But you, my friend," the white knight swung an arm around the shorter man's shoulders, "you really need to loosen up and what better way than to practice for the tournament."

"Alright, alright...fine we'll deliver these keys to Seto and then I'll pound you into the ground with my sword."

"It's a date!" Bakura grabbed him around the shoulders, near lifting him high. "Come on, Temmy-boy-"

"Oh please, don't boy me...Pegasus is awful enough without you doing it too."

Bakura chortled an insane laugh, skipping playfully down the corridor. "Temmy-boy, Temmy-boy."

"FELIX!"

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The afternoon of having a sparring match with Bakura had left him floating on a high but physically dry, though he'd actually managed to stay awake through most of the story telling session in the great hall, all the while escaping Pegasus's presence. He'd been surprised to learn the old knight had been wedded since last they'd crossed blades, married to such a tiny little doll in size, Rebecca he'd called her, Rebecca Hopkins. Such a thing, he knew, in the Before Time would have been frowned upon, yet in their new world marriage was a way for women to gain protection and status. He couldn't very well fault the girl for her choice in husband if it meant she had her grandfather could live well enough, unless she'd been forced against her will, though he greatly doubted that, she'd come across as the kind of girl who got her way.

It had been her grandfather that had most intrigued him and though the old, grey haired man, who'd appeared so worn down by his years, hadn't spoken to him, something in the way his eyes had always lingered made the young knight sure he'd wanted to speak.

"Guess," Yami yawned as he staggered down the dark hall, winding his way towards the large underground kitchens, "I'll have to find a chance to chat with him alone..." He pressed his full weight against the wooden doors into the hot kitchens, smelling the wonderful scents of the morning breakfast already cooking away. Fresh bread adorning hundreds of treys to feed not just their community but the new arrivals also. Pulling out the bag he'd stolen from Bakura's side of their room, he studied the large loafs. He yawned again before grabbing three and stuffing them into the bag. Turning he wandered to one of the giant store rooms, opened it and walked inside, stealing a few more things from the shelves. He paused by a jar of toffees and blinked, gazing at them.

"Sol..." He scratched his head, his mind flickering back for a moment to the white walls of alabaster, the sea-side smell of Atlantis that called him like a lonely song. The memory was so clear and so visible he could almost step into it, a memory of watching the tiny boy run madly towards him, trip and fall flat to burst into tears.

He smiled weakly, pressing his knuckles to the door frame. "I can't believe..." He whispered, "that I...was such a king." He frowned suddenly, "can I be him again...or...should I try to be me? Are we the same person or not? Oh well, I bet Sol likes toffees." He grabbed the jar, finding a smaller one and tipping the sweats into it before tightening the lid and stuffing it into the bag along with everything he'd gathered. Peering out of the store room he glanced around the dark kitchens, only the burning of the fires lighting the world. Quickly he slipped out, closing the door behind him and moving through the draws, finding milk jars with tops in a low cupboard. Knowing no one would miss them he added them to his collection, not bothering that the bag was beginning to get heavy. If he knew Yugi, and he did, the young man was far stronger than a normal man and even if the young man had no idea of his true form, he was sure that ever since he'd been given the inverted pyramid, the crystal of Atlantis embedded within the golden dragon tears would be beginning to peel back the humanity Yugi had been born with, revealing more and more the mythical creature he was.

"It's going to be a shock when he wakes up one morning..." Yami hissed, "I should try and tell him before that...right? Or maybe he'll need the shock to get it? I'm pretty smart and he's a reflection of me...so he'd understand it...and think about it logically...like I would...I think."

Heaving the bag onto a table he sorted through the contents, nodding in agreement to himself that he had a good range of supplies for five starved adults and one almost dehydrated boy.

"Packing a mid-night snack my son?"

Yami gave a small start as the voice of his father alerted him to the man's presence. He twisted around to meet the broad chest and greying bread, surrounding the high cheek bones.

Somehow the Earl had snuck up right against him and the old man seemed to know it too, with his grin wide in victory.

"Father? Ah..." Yami flicked his eyes to the bag, "yes...kind of."

"Hmp," Atum rolled his eyes, "remember, maybe, to pack a first-aid kit, your dreaming partner might need that as well...oh, and Atemu?" Pausing from leaving, taking with him a large slice of chocolate cake, Atum squared his son with a firm stare, "I at least want you to pretend to be interested in the knights who've travelled far to come here. This is a time when we can swap information, gather how bad things are becoming...you have good ears and a good mind for figuring things out. I actually need your help, out there, amongst the wolves, or flying horses if you count Pegasus."

"Sorry Father, I'll try not to be too distracted." Yami inclined his head, wishing he could mutter in sarcasm that if the man had wanted his full attention he shouldn't have informed him that he was the genetic carnation of a young and oh-so-powerful Pharaoh who'd bonded with an age old dragon that currently had no idea he was one.

Honestly, what man informed their son of that and then expected them to still fight in a tournament?

"That's my boy," Atum agreed, "sweet dreams." He chuckled playfully, vanishing out the doorway, a stolen warm muffin in hand.

Relaxing his shoulders Yami finished tying the bag, pausing for a moment in thought. His father had been right, first-aid gear wasn't a bad idea. With a small scramble he gathered up the bag and threw it over his shoulder, heading out the door and turning towards Isis's healing chambers. If ever in need of a place to find healing gear, she'd supply it.

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_It hadn't taken long to get to sleep, the state of his exhausted, aching body, pretty much collapsed the moment he fell into his bed. Even with Bakura's snoring he'd just dropped, almost felt as though he fallen into the dream-world, landing there with the bag he'd dragged into bed with him._

_Tipping his head back Yami heaved up the bag and started towards the tree that marked their usual greeting place. The flickering memories in the back of his mind told him what the place was, this dream world was a replica of a garden. The garden he'd had made for Heba in ancient days long ago, to give the dragon a place to be alone and though it still lacked colour, though it was still a world of washed grey it was slowly beginning to look more and more like the peaceful world it was supposed to be._

"_You're late handsome." The voice startled him from his dazing._

_Yugi dropped from the tree at their usual meeting area of the strange dream world. The young man's strong thighs catching his own weight as he landed in perfect ease, a graceful and lean as a cat. _

_Yami inclined his head in a bow. "My apologises, young sir, but I had a few things to figure out before I headed to bed. I believe these will be of use for you and yours." He held out the large leather bag from behind his back. _

_He handed it towards Yugi, noticing the abashed look upon his smaller look-a-likes features, making the young man appear oddly angelic in the grey light. He had to wonder, silently on his own, why their dream world seemed to be becoming clearer with every passing night they spent together, almost as if over time, the link was growing stronger._

"_Food, milk, water and a first-aid kit. I also found this," the young knight pulled out a wad of paper, "Its a map...and I've marked out the fastest route to Hedingham Keep from the old main-highway. It'll take you via the nearest town, where I hope you'll find a Land-Rover or something; the terrain around the Keep is difficult to navigate on foot. You need some wheels."_

"_Th...thank you." Yugi held the bag as though it weighted nothing, hugging it like a kitten. _

_Yami thinned his lips, his heart swelled at the sight. "Glad to help." _

"_I...I mean it." Yugi whispered, licking his dry lips, "Thank you...you...shouldn't care so much."_

"_I have my reasons." Yami smiled carefully, making sure his expression was simple, that the young man in front of him couldn't possibly read into it, to see the ache he was controlling inside._

_He breathed breathed in deeply, rubbing the back of his neck in an anxious movement to rid himself of the awkward moment. His brow shifted, noticing something and recollecting how last they'd parted._

"_How's the arm?" Yami noted Yugi's slightly loose right arm. He reached out. The movement caused Yugi to stiffen as the knight pulled up the torn sleeve to see a make-shift bandage around a thick red wound._

"_I won't bore you of the details of it but let's just say, the first-aid kit will come in handy...." Yugi shrugged his shoulders, "and Sol sprained his ankle today too...so now I can strap it. Stupid boy, playing on solidified dragon dung." The young man gave a smile, causing his words to have no sting in them._

_Yami seated himself upon a rock beside their tree, watching as Yugi propped down the bag, looking through the contents in delight. "Sounds like a normal boy to me."_

"_Yes, well, normal boy or not I'm still the one who has to carry him and his ankle...all for a blue crystal he found in the rocks." Yugi pulled out a loaf of bread, "my gosh, is this fresh?" He crinkled the crust, smiling._

"_Baked tonight."_

"_Wow...real fresh bread. We'd better eat that quick or the Raiders will smell it out."_

"_Raiders." Yami rubbed his head, "I hadn't thought about them..."_

"_You've never run into Raiders before?" Yugi frowned at the wound on his arm as Yami once more reached out to touch it. _

_Yami stopped fingering the binding that had been wrapped around it, as if realising suddenly what he was doing. He couldn't laps into forgetting that the Yugi before him had no recollection of who or what he was and there was no way he was going to stand there and simply tell it to him straight. He needed to figure out how to explain it to the young man, gently, yes...very gently._

"_I can't say I have. I mean, I've heard about them...." The young knight flushed. "Apparently they're men...or women...who have been driven insane by the radiation. They...ah...yes well...not partially something you want to talk about."_

"_You're so sheltered Yami." Yugi smiled at the blushing knight, delighted at the sight, that it was even possible. He reached up and patted the heir's cheek playfully. "It's very refreshing."_

"_Is it now?" Yami pouted. Never had he been called sheltered before, but now that he thought about it, maybe he was, sheltered by the safety and comfort of Hedingham._

"_Yup." Yugi stood, dusting off his pants. "Well, I'd better wake the others; we've got a lot of miles to cover today on foot. Thanks for the supplies, they'll help...though I have no idea how to explain it to the others."_

_Yami laughed, "what, can't tell them you dream of a dashingly handsome knight who gives you supplies from a far-away Keep?"_

_Yugi poked him hard in the chest, "No, I can't, first of all, Ryou would think I'm finally losing my noggin, which is already the consensus on the idea. Sol would start squealing in delight at a story and beg me to tell it to him, Joey would erupt into laugher, Kala would ask just how handsome you are and Malik would...possibly kill me for making his girl-friend even think of there being someone slightly more dashing than him."_

"_Such a rowdy bunch you have." Yami thought for a moment of Bakura._

"_Gotta love them." Yugi swung the bag over his shoulder as if it hardly weighed anything. "Thanks again," he offered the knight a small hug, "see you tomorrow night, Atemu Amir."_

"_Maybe." Yami scrubbed his hands together._

_Yugi raised an eyebrow in a silent question._

"_I'll try, but tomorrow night is the beginning of a two week long festival, I'm...ah...required as the heir of Hedingham to participate."_

_Yugi shrugged, "Poor Yami, such a burden...bring Sol a slice of cake if you can then." He gave a back handed wave._

"_Yugi...wait..." Yami paused, backing down as Yugi turned to face him, faint and sad smile upon his lips. The knight closed his eye for a moment, hating the look upon the young man's face, wishing beyond anything he could see the happiness that had once graced his dragon's lips. _

"_What?"_

"_It...doesn't matter, don't worry about it." Yami dismissed the idea all together, knowing telling him now would only cause a rift to form and it had taken this long alone to come to such talking terms with the far-away young man._

"_Okay."_

"_Keep safe, alright." Yami gulped. _

_Yugi shook his head, "Atemu Amir, don't worry, I mean nothing to you. I am just another man in this ruined world. Trying to survive and keep his loved ones alive." He vanished into the gathering mist, the dream world fading away as Yami slowly pulled himself up in his bed, finding himself within his warm room, the fire to the right crackling with life from the wood he'd piled onto it. Bakura was solidly asleep on the bed beside him, lounged out like a large white tiger. Yami groaned, hocking his legs up with his arms and bringing them to his chest._

"_If only you knew, Yugi...if only you knew; my beautiful dragon..."_

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Bakura stood watching the passing knight's move through the green area where a dozen or more coloured tents had been set up. He puffed out his cheeks in frustration, looking to Honda beside him, knighted as Lord Tristan. The tall, broad man was wearing his casual gear, not many actually took him for one of Yami's knights simply because he blended in well with the normal community folk so well. He worked like a hard man, as the blacksmith of their community, and therefore knew weapons and armour like no other.

He was also slightly annoying, in the way Bakura saw annoying. He was too nice to people when he needed to be and yet could bully anyone he ran into with a good fist fight.

Yami liked him and Bakura had to admit, the day Tristan had joined the knight-hood of Hedingham had been an interesting day. It'd been the first time Yami had ever found himself on his back to another man, not in the fighting ring, but in a game of poker one rowdy, useless night of drinking. Since that night, Yami Atemu Amir refused to drink.

"So..." Tristan pursed his lips in a faint show of disgust, "what do you think? Any of them stand a chance this time?"

Bakura shook his head, "got a few hopefuls, I'm pegging old Pegasus to get through to the last round again."

"Unless one of us takes him down." Duke's voice caused Bakura to wince as the man seemed to appear out of nowhere, coming up beside Tristan's much more intimidating form.

"Knock yourself out." Bakura chuckled, folding his arms across his chest.

"Thank you," Duke chimed in reply, "maybe I will."  
Through the crowd Yami slipped easily like a sleek shadow. The three watched him greet those he had to greet, pat children on the head like an old president of some old country before he finally reached them, his face dropping into a sour expression the moment he faced them alone.

With all four of them there, they where only missing Seto to complete their band of knights. Each held different weapons; each knew different tactics and different buttons to push. They had their areas of expertise and made a well trained group.

"Something wrong Temmy?" Perking up and eyebrow Bakura pushed away from the tent poll he'd been leaning upon to catch what shade he could.

Yami rubbed his nose, "Tristan, I want a check on all weapons and armour, done by tomorrow noon."

"Sir?" Tristan flinched, "ah..."

"I just found this." Yami held out a dagger, dragon tooth carved, the sheen in the white blade enough to tell that it had once belonged to a beast.

Duke sniffed the air, "holy...moly...is that...poisoned? It smells like dragon toxins..."

"Yes." Yami inclined his head, "it is. I found one of the children playing with it."

"No." Bakura hissed, "no...that is sick."

"Have you seen it before?" Yami offered a view of the hilt.

All three shook their heads.

Yami hissed in frustration, looking back to Tristan. "I want that check, get some of the underground men to aid you...if we have a knight who knows dragon toxins here, I want to know who he is before any of you step into that fighting ring."

"On it, sir." Tristan grabbed his large iron spear, wandering away into the crowd.

Yami hid the knife behind his back.

Noticing the dark, dangerous gleam in his friends eye's Bakura slid his fingers through the loops of his belt, giving an outward appearance of being entirely at ease with the world. Something about their leader's expression and eyes had changed, it wasn't significant enough to change the personality but it was clarity of the world.

It was as if his old friend had suddenly put on a new pair of glasses and could see for the first time. If it wasn't so creepy, Bakura was sure he'd have found it fascinating.

"So, want me to take it to Seto?"

"Yes...and Bakura," Yami slipped the knife into the white knights hands. "Tell him to be careful, I've got a bad feeling...tell...tell him to keep Mokuba out of view. Duke, you're with me, I'm checking out a jeep that Pegasus gave father as a gift."

"A jeep?" Duke pulled a face, "as in a car, car jeep...he gave us a jeep?"

"Yes." Yami clapped a hand on the models shoulder.

"What are we checking it for?" Duke winced from the firm grip of the knight-leader.

"I don't know yet." Smiling Yami directed Duke away, "I'll know when I find whatever it is."

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Bakura knew that if things had ever been different, he would never have befriended a man like Seto Kaiba-the-boy-genius. Actually, the white knight was sure he'd have never befriended the likes of Yami, Duke and Tristan if life had taken him on another road.

But sure enough, they where his friends and each of them he trusted with his life, not as much as he trusted himself with his own life, but they all had his back as he had theirs.

Seto was a good man.

He didn't seem like one, in fact he was usually downright awful, but he was a good man none-the-less and therefore people gave him leeway for being rude and snotty.

Seto Kaiba was one of those genius's who looked at the world and saw it through different eyes. Everything to him was in patterns or numbers, strings or boxes, theories or facts and truth. They needed him to be there, to tell them things they would never see because they wore glasses unlike his.

Bakura sighed heavily as he approached the large iron door into the high-IQ man's dungeon chambers. He pounded his fists on it in his usual Bakura greeting, giving a howler.

"Seto! Seto! Open up this damned door right now or I'll kick it down!"

It shifted open slowly and Bakura stepped aside as a shoe was flung out. He stared at it darkly, "I think he just keeps a whole stack of those things to throw at me randomly...I know he does..."

Slipping through the dark fold of the shield Seto used to protect his 'lair' Bakura shivered as the odd sensation of being transported filmed over his limbs and he stepped into a blue light of the underground dungeon chamber. The first level held beds and everything needed for normal living, it was set up in a circle that wrapped around the lower section on technology and hogwash the white knight never wanted to know about. Trudging down into the pit Bakura glanced around, noting Seto bent over a glass desk.

"Going naked Seto?" Bakura noted the young man's bare back and chest, revealing the scars that lined his white skin from shoulder-blade to shoulder-blade and down to the curve of his lower back. Someone had taken a good cat-o-nine-tails to the skin, ripping it raw.

"Fixing my pace-maker." Seto muttered, pulling away from the table, allowing Bakura to note the faintly glowing device still connected to the metal hole shafted into the young man's chest. Bakura made a face.

"I keep forgetting your tickers got a problem."

"My heart is fine...it's the aeroplane metal imbedded into my chest travelling towards my internal organs that's the problem. Don't crash an eight million dollar plane in the middle of England while trying to escape a dragon is the moral of my story."

"Hey, you saved your little brother, so I think it turned out just dandy." Bakura shrugged.

"I suppose." Seto rolled his eyes, "he lost both arms and I lost my dignity."

"Finding you was the best thing Yami and I ever did. We'd have never known about the crystals and never been able to have a shield to protect this community..."

"I feel so loved." Turning back to his glowing device Seto fiddled for a few moments, blue light sparking off the rounded device as chemicals reacted.

"You know, I remember reading a comic book about this rich guy called...Tony Stark...I think...he kinda had the same thing. They called him Iron Man and he ran around saving people. I was rereading it the other night while Yami was groaning about something..."

"I know," Seto glanced to the white knight, "that's where I got the idea from, Mokuba would read them to me while I worked, back in the...Before Time." The wizard of the Keep gave a slight, ever so slight, momentary smile at the memory.

"Guess rich genius need to stick together."

"Find me another one and I'll kill whoever he is for plagiarism." Seto stood, his work done, "mind giving me hand, or you still a sissy?"

Bakura wrinkled his nose in revolt. "I am not sticking my hand into your chest, that is just disgusting, do it yourself idiot."

Seto shook his head, giving a roll of his eyes as he carefully leant back into a chair, slotting the round device through his chest. He winced as something sparked before breathing out deeply in a sigh of relief.

"Done..." He touched a pad of buttons upon the arm of his chair before standing and reaching for his robe hanging lazily upon a rack.

"What was wrong with it?" Bakura inquired to the wizard. "You needing a jump-start is unusual..."

"I've been noticing odd power decreases in the Crystals, not just the one in my chest-."

A shattering sound caused the ground under their feet to shift and Bakura grabbed a table, steadying himself as the world seemed to tip from a pulsating blue light that erupted from a door to the side of the room. It shattered open with a resounding boom and a small figure dashed out. Mokuba grabbed the door, slamming it shut as the earth rumbled again, a lone groan echoing throughout the underground chamber.

"Big brother, we just lost Core Five!" Mokuba shouted as he ran up a flight of stairs.

"Damn it!" Seto thrust his fists together in frustration, "why is this happening...?"

Bakura raised an eyebrow as Mokuba ran up a flight of stairs, the boy's robotic arms bare of their usual fake skin, obviously having been burned off in some form of reaction to the Core's death.

"You're telling we're losing power?" Bakura's eyes almost popped from their sockets, "we can't lose power, we've got the festival going...if our shield falls then the dragons will smell us out for sure!"

"Do I look like an idiot!" Seto growled, "I know that. We've still got Core One, Three and Four. Two and Five are out until I can figure out what the hell is going on...those crystals fragments should have had the power levels to last millions of years." He slumped back into his seat, watching as Mokuba poured the two adults drinks. Inserted within both visible robotic arms small glowing slivers of an ancient power source shined blue, lodged within the inner workings of the minute designs that allowed the young lad to function like a normal boy with normal arms. Seto was a genius, no, no he was more than a genius.

"Mokuba's slivers haven't failed yet and neither has mine...therefore...there is some hope, but it is as if something is draining the Cores."

Bakura frowned. "What could possibly do that?"

"Another form of energy that counteracts the crystals." Mokuba offered, dusting back a lock of his thick black hair, "enough to tip the balance. The crystals are very powerful, but Seto did theorise that there was something out there that could destabilise them; some kind of negative energy that has to coexist beside the positive."

"Alright, alright all I heard there was blaa, blaa, blaa techno mumbo negative verses positive stuff." Rubbing a hand through his hair Bakura suddenly recollected the reason he'd come down to the wizard's lair in the first place. He reached out the pouch around his waist and pulled out the slim dragon crafted dragger.

"Oh, yeah...Temmy wanted you to have a peak-peak at this."

Seto raised an eyebrow in thought, taking the well crafted handle carefully and glancing over the weapon.

"He found it today, one of the children was playing with it."

"Its coated in dragon toxins." Seto whispered, his tone darkening.  
"Yep." Bakura nodded.

"That would mean one of the travelling knights has recently killed a dragon, this kind of toxin doesn't keep long...a couple of days at the max." Seto carefully placed the blade down upon a clear glass table, touching the surface and pressing glowing flat buttons. Bakura wandered towards him, watching as a scan shifted over the dagger.

Seto's frown darkened and he tapped the surface of the table.

"Where's Yami right now?"

"Checking out that jeep Pegasus gave us. You seen it yet?"

"I had Mokuba look over it." Seto muttered, "I was too busy. Mokuba, go yet Yami for me!"

"Yes, big brother."

"Put GLOVES on your hands, boy," Bakura shouted at the child, "we don't want the visitors knowing you've got robotic arms. Yami's worried about you."

"Okay, okay." Mokuba groaned, "I know." The lad ran off to his chamber to one side of the lair. Seto shook his head at the boy, turning his attention back to the scans results.

"So..." Bakura leant forward, "what's it say, what's wrong Seto?"

Thinning his lips Seto bowed his head low, "this dragon toxin..." His fingers gripped into fists, "is admitting a power-surge."

Bakura back peddled, "What?"

"Yes..." Seto glanced towards the white knight, "what indeed?"

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"Okay!" Duke shoved open the large door into the underground garage, holding most of their automobiles gathered over the years since the end of the world. "Yami, come clean with me, who is it?"

Yami blinked in confusion, reaching for the key rack and finding the jeep keys without difficulty. He knew every car and truck in the garage like clock-work, and the keys that went with them.

"Who's who?"

"Whoever it is that's caught your eye and making you be weird and all thoughtful. Usually you're off having a lark of a time during the festival but nope...you're all quiet and gentle and freaking me out!" The model threw his arms up as they both weaved their way through the dark light.

Yami pulled an overhanging light switch, wincing as light flared, blinding them both just for a moment as the large underground garage swelled into view all around them.

"There is no one Duke."

"No, there is, I can see these things Yami." Duke insisted, "I am the master of secret body language, how do you think I end up with so many girls."

Yami chuckled. "I'm telling you the truth, there is no one."

"You're lying." The knight cheerfully called out as Yami ducked around, coming up to a new arrival amongst the many vehicles within the garage.

"There is no one Ryuji, I can assure you, I am as much of a bachelor now as I was a minute ago."

"Good come back there! Which means there is someone...I know all, I see all, I am all." Duke chortled, hoisting himself over the bonnet of a small Kia car, landing easily on his feet beside the new jeep, patting a little dumb sound on the metal side.

Grabbing the roll cage Yami climbed into the back of the jeep, smelling the scent of ash and fire. His mind drifted in that moment, knowing the smell, knowing that forever he would equate it with Yugi; the smell of the world outside of his safe home, the world where Yugi lived and struggled to survive. It couldn't have been the jeep Yugi had claimed to have had stolen, Pegasus was a knight of honour, sworn to protect lives, not displace them.

"Is she pretty?" Duke popped the bonnet, "she'd have to be normal though, right, you like normal women, not the Mai kinda women. I've noticed that in you, you always go for the women who look a little bit like they're the avenge looking girls."

Yami eyeballed the top of his head. "You're awful Duke, if you don't stop demoralising the women I look after I'll knock you out of the tournament before it even begins."

"Okay, okay...fine...gee...sorry...well, this thing is a right-old-mess you know...doesn't look like the baby's been service in years. Whoever owned the old darling didn't know a pick-squeaking thing about the inside of a hot-iron."

Yami sighed heavily at the knight, "The out-lying communities try their best Duke, you cannot fault them for being a little behind, we are lucky we are so blessed with what we have and the people we have amongst our community."

Duke only shorted, rubbing a hand to his nose, seeming to ignore the comment, "What we looking for again..."

"Something..." Yami stuffed his hands around the edges of the seats, pausing as he settled upon something and carefully he tugged it free. The folded sheet of paper had been crimpled up, but not enough to damage the image he unfolded to see.

A child's drawing.

It was not simple, proving by far the child's intelligence. In fact, he was down-right certain whoever had drawn it knew something of art or had at least grown up looking at art through books or images, the old fashioned kind of art of the Before Times medieval history. It was a shaded image of two people sitting upon rocks, one a young man and the other obviously the child who'd drawn the picture; both where looking across a waste land towards a castle in the horizon.

A home.

Scribbled down the bottom was the signature and date he'd been looking for.

_Solomon Motou – Year 1c _

"Found it." Yami hoisted himself out of the jeep.

Duke looked up, confusion obvious for a moment, "what? What is it?"

"A picture from my future son." Yami landed upon the ground, "It's going on the fridge." The knight clapped his friend over the head in mild jest, then paused as a high-pitched, unbroken voice echoed throughout the large chamber.

"Yami! Yami!"

"Mokuba?" Yami glanced around, refolding the picture and slotting it into a pocket around his waist. He caught the boy as he tripped up. "Careful their Moki...you'll fall over and your brother will give me an ear-full."

"Sorry sir," Mokuba brushed back his locks of black hair, worriedly shuffling his feet. Yami hoisted the lad up into his arms, keeping him hooked on his chest.

"So what's got you fluttered like a butterfly?"

Mokuba shrugged, hooking his mechanical arms around the knight's neck, dipping his chin onto the strong, sturdy shoulder. "Seto wants to talk to you, it's about that...dagger..."

Yami's jaw tightened.

"Alright then, let's see what the Wizard has to say..."

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Sol was glaring at his Dad. Yugi could feel the boy's intense stare and could picture the child's pouting face even without looking around to see it. He was annoyed at being carried, even though he'd eaten through most of the toffees Yami had supplied and should have, therefore, been in a good mood.

"I want to get down Dad!"

"Well," Yugi offered, "it's your fault for climbing all over those rocks, I told you Solomon, you'd fall over and hurt your ankle."

Sol blew a raspberry between his lips, burying his head into Yugi's shoulder from where he was perched within a large carry bag, the lad being small enough to fit into it, with holes cut in the bottom for his little thin legs to poke through.

"Why can't Uncle Ryou fix my ankle!"

"Because Uncle Ryou is saving up his strength for more important injuries than your ankle. Like if I decide to get cut up, or if Joey shots himself with his gun while being an idiot, you know things like that." Yugi smiled, looking forward through his tussled fringe to where the others were walking some distance ahead, poking their heads into cars they passed. On the horizon he could just see the tip of a church, the town they'd been heading too in the first place finally appearing to be reachable. The map in his pocket could have been made from burning coal the way it felt against his hip. He had a choice, to ask the others to trust him and head to Hedingham Keep or to continue onward to find a new place for them all to start again.

"Hey Dad?" Sol's voice piped up again. Yugi felt his long hair being tugged as the boy played with the locks, plating it into little plats.

"Yes?"

"Are we going to see the Pharaoh?"

Yugi jerked to a sudden stop, squeaking out the word. "Pharaoh?"

"Yeah," Sol nodded, though his parent couldn't see the movement, "Pharaoh Atemu, he's lives in this really nice castle and he has this friend who looks a lot like Ryou but he's all scary and mean but funny...other people are there too like-."

His mouth was dry, totally dry, to dry for any water to ever quench it. He hadn't spoken Yami's name to Sol, he hadn't even mentioned Hedingham Keep as a possible place to go and whoever mentioned anything about a Pharaoh other than the one who'd bonded...his...soul...

"Sol?" Yugi gulped, "how do you...how do you know about a Pharaoh?"

"Well," Sol sighed, stating in a matter-a-fact tone as if it was planly obvious, "I have dreams. I'm a boy in a castle, I run around all day playing in the nice pretty gardens with a dragon-."

"A dragon."

"Yup."

"A dragon." Yugi's tone darkened.

"Yeah."

"Solomon, you don't play with dragons, dragons are not pets you don't...just...play with a dragon."

"But I do!" Sol snapped, "not all dragons are bad Dad!"

Yugi bit his lips, forcing himself not to shout at the boy on his back.

His hair was tugged firmly, "Dad, you're that dragon, you sparkle and glow, you have a different name, but I know it's you Dad."

"Solomon, be quite."

"But Dad-."

"I said be quite." Yugi snapped. Sol gave a small sob, curling up into a ball. Yugi bit his lips hard, bowing his head. "I'm sorry Solomon, I didn't mean to shout...shh, it's alright."

Slipping the bag off his shoulders Yugi settled it onto the ground, crouching and pealing Sol out of his little ball, hugging the boy tenderly and rocking him back and forth. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

"You're happy there Dad." Sol murmured, "I like seeing you happy...and...and...the Pharaoh always makes sure we're happy. I wanna go where we can be happy, to the Pharaoh! I want to go home Dad!"

Yugi closed his eyes, patting the boy's back, soothing away the sobs in the same manner his grandfather had always done for him, "we haven't got a home Sol. Not yet."

Sol began to hiccup and Yugi closed his eyes, hugging the boy closer, "now you've done it, given yourself the hiccups...you know, the only way to cure hiccups is to get tipped upside down!"

Sol squealed in hysterical laughter as the young man hoisted him up and tipped him by the waist.

"No, no Dad, stop...please, Dad!" Sol hiccupped.

"Oh, look, it isn't working." Yugi laughed, "guess that means I have to pull out the big-guns."

"No! Dad, no, please no." Sol squeaked out a laugh between a hiccup.

"YUGI!"

Yugi stopped, hoisting Sol over his shoulder like a toddler and taking a defensive position, making a move for the iron pole he always kept close.

"What!?" He shouted back to Joey, noting the shaggy blond was waving both arms high. Patting Sol's backside Yugi slung his pole over his spare shoulder, shoving between two smashed together cars, ignoring the decayed skeleton bodies inside.

"We found a working land-rover, you know, the kind the old Top Gear boys used. She's a beaut Yugi. Hey, she even has a working CD player with a couple CDs!"

Smiling at the ecstatic young man Yugi passed Sol into his arms, "good, put this sack of potatoes in a seat and play a song, something to make him calm down."

Sol wiggled, "Dad, no, I want to talk to you about the dragons and the Pharaoh-." Yugi pressed a finger to Sol's lips, raising an eyebrow, making sure he was firmly looking into the lad's purple eyes.

"No, Solomon, not right now. We will talk about it all when we are safe in the church in that town ahead. Go with Uncle Joey."

Pouting Sol curled up into Joey's arms. The American chuckled, carting him away. Yugi lunged onto a car's bonnet, pounding his way onto a roof to peer a t the horizon ahead. The town was there, hopefully a safe place. Church's were still places of sanctuary, even now, their old structures were seen as protection, though for life of him, Yugi had never understood why. A dragon burned anything, holy ground or not, but maybe it was human emotion that attached such value to places, and he wasn't one to shun human emotions in such dire times.

"Hmmm," Ryou's voice caused Yugi to glance around, noticing his friend was peering into the car he stood upon, "this man here died of stab wounds to his torso and his skull...the woman over there, in that car, died the same way, the child she had in the back seat of her car died of dehydration I suppose...too young to get out of the car."

"You're telling me," Yugi looked around, "these people where all murdered in one go? These bodies have to be at least ten years old Ryou, back when the Panic Days first began..."

"Yes, and when people panic, they kill for things as simple as cheese." Ryou shrugged, causing the cotton shirt he wore to slip down his shoulder. He tugged it up with a frustrated movement.

Yugi rolled his eyes, jumping down from atop the car.

Ryou looked down at him, "you tell your son not to go climbing around and you wonder why he does when he see's you lunging about like a hoon."

Yugi cracked a wild grin. "True, true, good point. I'll write that down in my parenting journal, you know, the one I'm planning on publishing about how to raise a kid in a radiation destroyed, dragon infested, post-Armageddon world."

"Sarcasm," Ryou squeezed between the cars, shouldering a pack, "is the lowest form of wit."

"To'which it is justified by me being so short."

The white haired healer paused, staring at his friend. "My lord, Yugi, did you just crack a joke at your own lack of height?"

"I believe I did." Yugi swung his pole around.

"By jove, if the world hadn't already ended, it damned well would have right then and there." Ryou gave a laugh.

"Good thing it's already ended then heh."

They wandered side by side through the carnage, taking care not to cut skin or clothing upon the loose metal jutting out of cars and fallen beams. Up ahead the sound of a motor chugging away could be heard faintly and Yugi had to smile at the sight of Sol perched upon the Land-Rover roof top, with Kala beside him, both watching as Malik and Joey bent over the engine, drowned in some debate of just how many cylinders the engine had.

"Ryou..." Yugi glanced upwards.

The slightly surprised inquiry was event in Ryou's high-pitch, "Yes?"

"How were these Items created again?" Yugi pointed to his inverted pyramid.

Ryou paused from his walk, glancing at his Ring, wedged under his shirt. For a moment he seemed to make a face of confusion at why the question had been asked before he dashed whatever thoughts aside and replied.

"Oh..." The white haired healer frowned, "well, Father always said they were created by the blood of dragons, or Dragon Tears, as it was called once upon a time. Father use to always laugh about how your grandfather kept insisting they held some kind of ancient technology in them from Atlantis. I mean, Atlantis...has nothing to do with Ancient Egypt."

"Yeah," Yugi creased his brow, "funny that..."

"You alright Yugi?" Ryou touched his shoulder and suddenly a hand was pressed to his forehead. Yugi blinked at how freezing cold his friend's fingers felt. "Good lord Yugi, you're burning up!" Ryou blinked rapidly, "are you feeling ill? Why didn't you tell me you had a fever-."

"Because I don't have a fever." Yugi groaned, "you're the one who's cold, Ice-man...come on, let's just get in the land-rover and get to the town."

"Burning up Yugi, not a good sign, I can't heal fevers very well, even with food you drag out of nowhere."

"Shut up Ryou, since when have I ever listened to your healing voo doo, so don't listen to my magical ability to turn rocks into food!" Yugi waved his arms in the air.

"Oh, just you wait Yugi Motou, I know something's up. I'm your bloody-best-friend, I know things."

"Bark up another tree, oh...sorry, thats Joey. Hey Joey!" Yugi dashed away quickly, squeaking as Joey and Ryou ran after him, both managing to pin the young man to a car.

"Come on," Joey hoisted Yugi over his shoulder, "let's get you into the land-rover where Ryou can poke and prod at you all he likes."

"You're all evil." Yugi hissed, "evil I tell you, evil."

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Bakura was pacing. Seto was staring darkly at the accused weapon upon the small glass table. Duke was trying not to look bored and Tristan was making himself busy cleaning weapons.

All dared not look in Yami's direction as the knight sat upon a couch; knees tucked under his chin, gazing at nothing in particular, his eyes almost glazed over as if he was internally searching for some kind of hidden memory swelling within his mind.

"Say it again Seto." Yami whispered the order.

The wizard breathed out. "The dragon toxin is admitting a low kind of power surge, a pulse, if you call it...like it is in communication with a larger entity, it's disturbing the energy grid I use to create our shield, power...and the likes."

"So...it's alive?" Duke piped up, stopping from twiddling with his long earrings. "Like...aliens!"

Seto peered over his glasses at the pretty-boy, "sorry for my slow reaction, but I'm trying to figure out how I can possibly be friends with a human as stupid as you."

"Hey-."

"Enough." Yami snapped his attention upwards, standing to his feet in a fluid movement. "Enough! This is serious, what if the dragons are mutating from the radiation? Seto, we've seen a few...albeit, very few, cases of crop mutation-."

"No," Seto shook his head, "this is to far a jump in to quick of a time, the kind of mutation you're talking about would take a dozen or so generations to integrate into the gene pull...this is not like that." The wizard stood, touching a translucent screen. It flickered to life with a blue tinge, revealing pulsing circles.

"This appears to be a dragon toxin that can operate like...a...an...attachment to the beast, I theorise that if this toxin got into the blood stream of any person they would become under the influence of the controlling dragon, without knowing it." Seto rubbed sweaty hands together, "Yami, you have to tell your father to call off the tournament."

"I cannot do that-."

"You don't get it Atemu!" Seto pointed to the dagger, "this is beyond anything we have seen...this proves the dragons are intelligent, they know how to affect us humans and most of all, they know what I'm using as a power source! It's like...it's like our defences are being tested..."

"I know they are intellig...e....nt..." Yami's voice trailed off, his eyes widening suddenly, jerking towards Bakura in horror, "I have to speak to my Father!"

The knight dashed past the confused gathering, leaping up the stairs and making a mad pelt to the door, shoving it open and vanishing.

Bakura looked around, "er...did...he look at me?"

Seto slowly reached out, touching the white knights shoulder, "you know...Felix...maybe its...time I tried to awaken your genetic marker. If that toxin is proof of a dragon's intelligence, then I am willing to go out on a limb and believe Atemu was a Pharaoh and that I was the genius who figured out how to reincarnate his Court."

Bakura hoisted himself out of his chair, "goodbye, I have to talk to...to...a wall."

"What? Why?"

"You just...freaking admitted something no smart-genius-guy would admit! So...I'm running away from you!" Bakura leapt up the stairs, "bye!"

"Felix! Get back here!"

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_You may ask, why...why did she choose the name Felix for Bakura's christian name and left Bakura as his knighted name?_

_Hmmm, it felt like the wrong name and therefore it became the right name. Weird, I know, but I just really wanted to shout Felix at Bakura. =D And since I'm the writer he has to listen to me, *evil laughter* And well, it makes me smile and anything that makes me smile at the moment is worth it =D _

_So does that make sense? All the knights have their 'real name' and then a name they're knighted under._

_So Yami is actually _'Lord Atemu Amir, Heir of Hedingham Keep' _but is knighted as '_Sir Yami, Black Knight of Hedingham._' _

_And Bakura would be '_Sir Bakura, White Knight of Hedingham'_ however his real name and title would actually be _'Viscount Felix Kal'mar'_._

_Earl is above a Viscount...I think._

_Lord can be used for an Earl as well, they mean the same, I think (according to my book)_

_Anyway...its all so on and so on. I might have a name index at the end of the story, just to recap before Book 2 so we all who is who in Hedingham Court._

_Anyway, my point is. My thing of making up another name isn't actually correct, I think the 'Sir' was fixed to the christian name (meaning first name, encase people didn't know that...) but I wanted to be creative and have their two ranks being separate. So Yami could be technically one person with two different roles. _

_So...I hope that makes sense. I like being weird and thinking of these things. =D _

_Thanks for reading my hogwash of mish-mash stuff. Hope you enjoyed the update my friends._

_Cheers._

_T.W.W_


	6. THC Book 1 Chapter 5

The Hedingham Chronicles

Book 1: Walk of Fire

By: T.W.W

**Chapter Five: Sanctuary**

Yami ran towards his father's chamber, ignoring all those he rushed past in is haste. His heart was racing, pounding through his ear-drums, a kind of terror he hadn't felt in thousands of years. If only he could remember every detail of his life as a king of old, what had transpired to cause the fall of Atlantis. He recalled names, dates, geological facts, facts about dragons, people, faces but he could not recall events no matter what he tried, just little images here and there of a world and a life lived.

How much he had loved those around him; wished them protection and tried to give them the happiest of memories before the end.

He had loved the other half of his soul, in ways it was impossible to understand now, in his current state of mind.

Somehow this was all linked to the past, the future was merging, and he couldn't stop it, nor comprehend it. His father would at least listen without judgment, the man had been part of the 'Inklings', he'd believed his own son to be a Pharaoh from the moment he'd been born.

Dropping his pace slightly, Yami caught his breath, reaching for the door handle into the large chamber of his father's courters. He pressed himself gently upon the door, pushing it carefully, peering into the old man's room, listening to the voices and laughter from within.

It was surprising to hear laughter that didn't come from children, was instead two old men conversing over wine and food.

He noted Pegasus upon a couch, happily chatting to his father as though their friendship had been for decades before the Tribulation of the Dragons. Yami's mouth tightened, his fingers gripping the door handle and slowly he pulled the door shut, blinking rapidly as he pressed his forehead to the wood.

He couldn't jump to conclusions; he couldn't simply blame Pegasus because he disliked the man. That was an immature gesture that a child would make.

He was a Pharaoh, albeit still quite young in not quite knowing everything, but still, under it all, he had the memories of a war-lord.

Breathing in deeply Yami centred his mind. He knew what he needed to do; he needed to sleep on it.

He needed to see Yugi, his dragon, the other half of himself.

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The small town ahead was within an hour's distance, he could see the church in the fading sunlight across the moors. It was almost a pristine scene of beauty, and it not been filled with so much despair and ruin. Yugi tightened his grip upon the pole in his hand, twirling it and driving it hard into the dirty ground, almost as though he was marking the territory of their camp. He turned away as the last glimmer of sunlight died away, he could almost feel the pulling of the sun as it left their world, cold and heartless. He shivered, rubbing his arms as he headed back towards the land-drover. Ryou and Kala where busy preparing a meal from the food Yami continued to supply, he was thankful that they all had to sense to simply not ask him where it came from, almost as if they accepted the simple fact that he could bring them food like Ryou could heal and manipulate water if he wished it. From the open boot, Malik was tucking blankets into the folded down seats, giving Sol pokes and tickles as the boy wiggled around within a roll of furs.

Yugi grabbed the side of the four-wheel drive, hoisting himself onto the roof and dropping himself down beside Joey as the blond relaxed back, staring skyward at an open ocean full of starry hosts.

Yugi leant upon the American's chest, sighing heavily, "nice night."

"Bit chilly." Joey muttered.

Yugi smiled at the vibrations of his friends chest, "hadn't noticed."

"Nope," Joey replied, "cause you're hot and boiling like a water-bottle Yug man, Ryou's right, you sure you ain't got a fever."

"I feel fine Joseph." Chuckling Yugi gently pulled himself up, "really, I'm fine."

"Okay," Joey rolled around and swung down the side of the land-rover to land easily upon the ground, "if you say so."

"I do." Yugi held out his arms, playfully allowing himself to be caught by the much taller man and placed like a doll upon the ground. Inside the land-rover Kala, Malik, Ryou and Sol had huddled around a wind-up lamp as if it was a fire. They all were munching quite happily on life-giving food. Yugi followed Joey into the huddle hole, slamming the door behind him and crawling towards Sol. The boy was wearing a large mitten hat that covered his entire mane of brown tinged hair. Dipping his head Yugi kissed the lad's nose as he reached for a hand-full of nuts to go with his salad roll.

"Well," Malik smirked, "isn't this all cute and cuddly, we're like a camping family." The Egyptian nudged Ryou, "gotta admit, we make a wild old bunch of hippies!"

"I'm about as much a hippy as you are a toad. I am an English Lord." Ryou tilted his chin up.

"Snobbish aristocrat." Joey chortled, "my Dad was a drunk back in America, before Tribulation and look how I turned out, a picture of perfection." He gobbled out between a mouth-full.

Yugi covered Sol's eyes, making the boy giggle from the adults around him.

"A glutton is more like it." Yugi nibbled his roll, "Though, you might just be the sanest of us all Joey."

"You saying I'm loony Yugi?" Kala pouted.

"Very, darling, very loony indeed." Yugi poked her nose, "you're lying next to that strange...thing...over there, I forget what it is...oh, that's right, its a Malik-bear."

"Shut up!" Malik threw a walnut at his friend, "or I'll poke your eye out with my awesome golden...Item...thingy of DOOM!" The Egyptian twirled the golden Rod between his fingers expertly, making it poke Kala's nose before he ducked to kiss the woman beside him.

Clapping sounded throughout the interior of the four-wheel drive as the Egyptian pulled away, giving a mock bow from his waist.

Blushing furiously Kala ducked her head into a jacket, "Go away! You're all mean!"

"Maybe you two should just...you know...since we might all die anyway." Joey offered.

Malik swiped the blond hard over the head as Kala squeaked.

"Shut up!"

"Just a suggestion man."

Yugi laughed, rolling around and stealing another roll. "He has got a point Malik...make the most of living."

"Please," Malik groaned, "leave me alone about it!"

"Can't, we're all stuck in a four-wheel drive with you." Ryou glanced up, peering over his glasses, "all snuggled and warm. Though, I am surprised we survived Joey's driving to even eat dinner tonight."

"I am the man." Joey pumped a fist, "bow to my awesome driving skills."

"That'll get us killed and then I'll die a virgin." Kala grumbled.

Yugi chuckled darkly, "Easily fixed baby, you're in a car with four good looking men, take your pick."

"Quick, someone get the Holy Water from the front seat, eighteen year old Yugi's back!" Joey made a sign with his fingers, "Leave you vile demon!"

"Oh come on, I wasn't that bad!" Yugi pouted. "I managed to keep you all alive."

All three adults stared at him.

Yugi' cheeks had the decency to blush just faintly.

Considering the conversation of the elders around him had all but died into a dead silence Sol began to squeak aloud. "So, so, so, so, so..." The boy bounced from his tucked up position in the curve of Yugi's back, making the young man arch slightly from the pressure.

"So, so, so...what?" Joey smirked, giving his arms a good wave.

"Are we going to the town tomorrow?"

"I believe so." Yugi gasped out, "if you don't kill me first."

Ryou pulled Sol off, tucking the lad into a blanket, "careful Solomon, your Dad has a fragile body. I know he flings it around like a hooligan but just look at his arms, they're so skinny..."

"Eat more Dad!"

"Yeah Yugi, eat more!" Joey agreed.

"Stop teaming up on me." Yugi snorted. "Or I'll pull out my guns and shoot someone in a game of Bang-Bang who's the Killer."

"ME!" Malik threw up his arm, "I did it, pick me!

"Good grief," Ryou bowed his head, giving a warm smile as Yugi looked his way, for once the weary young man's cheeks were shadowing a hidden pleasure at the change in spirit that surrounded them within their little hideaway, "what a family we make."

"A good one." Yugi settled back with a shake of his head; looking down at Kala already sound asleep beside Malik. Sol was beginning to calm, his little head dropping onto his Dad's chest as his knees curled up into his usual sleeping position.

Yugi tipped his head towards the window, watching the dark world outside, the only light the glow of a pale waxed moon shining off the far, far distant cities turned into plains of glass from the super heat and explosions of nuclear weapons and fearsome dragons.

In some way, deep inside, though the world had come to ruin around him, he had all that really mattered in the love of his loved ones and as long as he lived he would protect to his dying breath what they had. Here right now, surrounding him, something more precious than gold.

Love.

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_Yami sensed Yugi's presence the moment the young man entered into their dream world. The peacefulness of knowing he was alive made him relax his tensed shoulders. A hand touched his shoulder._

"_Hey, handsome." The raspy voice and odd nickname made him smile. "You been waiting long?"_

"_Not long." Yami smiled, the pressure of the hand shifting as Yugi moved to sit on his usual rock, lean legs looped up under him. _

"_Sol was having trouble sleeping," Yugi rolled his aching shoulders; "I had to make sure he was asleep before I knocked myself out." _

"_Is he alright?" Slipping down onto the ground Yami folded his legs into a crossed position. _

"_Sol? Oh, he's okay," Yugi rubbed at his fringe, tucking it behind an ear, "nightmares, dreams, things like that. I think it's finally sunk in as to what happened to the community. Its making him a little bit restless."_

"_Some of the orphan children get like that." Yami mused, looking up at the young man perched upon the pale white rock. The light of their grey world was a little brighter; as if the sun was finally beginning to poke through the wash of nothingness surrounding what should have been a wonderful and lush garden. _

_The young knight stood, walking towards Yugi and seating himself beside the smaller man. Confused at the knight's expression Yugi shuffled away slightly._

"_What's wrong?"_

"_I believe," Yami slid out a crumbled sheet of paper, "we have a mutual dislike of a knight named Pegasus."_

_Yugi gaped at the drawing Yami held out, the sketched picture Sol had lovingly drawn, of them both sitting upon rocks, gazing into a castle in the distance. A new home, the boy had hoped, for them both to live happily ever after._

_Such dreams of a child._

"_You're kidding me?" Yugi laughed weakly, "you...found our jeep?"_

"_Pegasus gave it to my father as a gift, actually."_

"_So...we were only a day or so away from Hedingham!" Yugi fought back tears, "when Pegasus met us!? Why didn't he offer to take us...how...awful!"_

_Yami lowered the drawing, folding it up and holding it out to Yugi. _

_The young man simply stared at it. "We were so close...we must be so far away now..."_

_Yami brushed at his shoulder. "I'm sorry Yugi, I would punish him if I could. I do promise, I'll beat the man up real good for you. Here, Sol's picture-."_

"_No," Yugi shook his head, pressing the picture back into Yami's warm hands, "keep it." The young man bit his lips, blinking away tears, "keep it. Sol...Sol would want you to keep it."_

_Yugi dropped his head, bowing it low, "you're his hero after all, his home." _

_Yami's furrowed his brow in confusion, "What do you mean?"_

"_It's nothing," breathing out deeply Yugi rubbed his shoulder, "It's nothing, don't...don't worry about it."_

"_But I do," Yami raised a hand, stopping himself from brushing back Yugi's tussled fringe. He had to cringe, knowing he was acting once more as if he was beside someone who knew him better than humanly possible._

"_So...." Yami puffed out his cheeks, "where...are you now?"_

"_We're outside of a small town right now, I...I can't recall the name." Yugi scrubbed his head, "I need a wash." He groaned. "Hopefully tomorrow..."_

"_Yes, I do wonder what you really look like under all that grime." Yami grinned, dodging a back handed swipe as Yugi swung at him, glaring through his tussles of blond fringe. _

"_Shut up, you pampered, pretty knight!"_

"_Oh, but you are so cute when you get angry."_

"_Really," Yugi stood, "cute when I get angry, Atemu Amir, you have not seen me angry. I am not cute when I am angry, I am a ruthless killer who will break every bone in your body if you dare touch me or mine." The young man smirked, glancing over the horizon of their weary world, "you know, its odd to think that right now, I'm lying curled up in the back of a land-rover with five other bodies all huddling as one to contain heat and yet I'm standing here, talking to you about how cute I look when I get angry."_

_Yami propped his chin upon the palm of his hand leaning onto it, "You're right, I haven't seen you angry." The young knight fiddled with a shred of grass, knowing all too well the memories of his dragon in a rage and the image was enough to make his skin shiver in some odd form of narcissistic_ _delight._

"_You're in an odd mood tonight." Yugi looked down at the knight, "everything okay on your end of the line?"_

"_Just a couple of problems that are giving me something to think about, that is all."_

"_Two minds are better than one, share them and I might save you the headache."_

"_Ever heard of dragon toxins that admit a low power pulse, enough to destabilise an energy grid or affect a humans mental capabilities?"_

_Yugi blinked, "No."_

"_Well..." Yami spread his arms, "I found one of the children playing with a dagger that had been coated in this...strange liquid. It's almost as if...it's part of a larger entity, on Seto's machines it comes up as being a functioning organism but it's just...its dragon toxin, it's just poison." _

_Yugi hummed, "what did you tell me while back, we live in a world of magic and dragons, anything is possible. Maybe you need to stop trying to figure it out and just accept it as fact and move on from there, to the questions of why, who and how? Why was it given to a child for you to find, who gave it to the child and how did the dragon toxin get there in the first place?"_

"_You're very good at this." Yami smiled, standing to his feet, "thank you."_

"_Logic." Yugi shrugged his shoulders but paused, tensing slightly as the knights arm's enfolded around his waist, pulling him close._

_For a moment Yugi froze. The embrace was strange, for there was no physical sensation of touch to be had within their dream world, it was simply a pressure, and yet it evoked such a safe sensation._

_Something in his mind bubbled, a swell of emotions sent to him like an old fashioned email with an attachment. It expanded inside him and he was almost overcome with tears at the desperate emotion of longing from the knight holding him._

"_What...are you doing?" He choked out, though felt half inclined to believe the man could have heard his thoughts._

"_Hugging you."_

"_I figured that much, Einstein." _

"_You looked like you needed one." Yami pulled away reluctantly and Yugi lifted his head to look upward at the knights red eyes, the sorrow within them evident. "I hope, one-day, that I'll be able to do it in real life."_

"_You keep hoping handsome," Yugi punched the knight's firm chest with a fist, keeping it there, noticing the slight trembling in his knuckles, "cause I ain't got much of it left." _

"_I'll hope for the both of us then." _

_Yugi nodded weakly, his attention shifting slightly. Yami felt the fist on his chest drop away as the young man swept up the bag of supplies, "Sorry, Ryou is trying to wake me, I've gotta go. Thanks for the supplies."_

"_You're welcome." Yami called out at the vanishing young man, feeling the twang of sadness at his departure. "One day," he managed to choke out as he too, faded from the grey garden world, "my dragon, I won't ever let you go." _

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Conversation

Yugi stirred, sensing Ryou's hand shaking is shoulder.

"Yugi." The albino's soft white hair was covering his face. Yugi brushed it aside, rolling around and wincing from the pain in his wounded arm as it contacted the surface of the land-rovers folded down seats. Carefully he sat up amongst the bodies tangled together.

"Ryou? What's wrong?" Yugi managed to blink away sleep from his eyes, noticing the world outside was just beginning to glow russet from a pre-dawn light.

"I have to pee," Ryou hissed, "please come with me."

"Gosh, Ryou." Yugi yawned, rubbing his face, "couldn't you hold it, I was having a good dream about a handsome knight."

"Daddy, I need to pee too." Sol's soft little voice spoke up and Yugi glanced down at the boy wedged under him.

"Great," Yugi propped his head back, "fine...fine, let's all go together shall we." He pulled himself up, climbing out of the bed covers and shoving open the door. Slipping out he picked up Sol, hooking the boy around his hip and aided Ryou out.

"Thank you, Yugi." Ryou whispered.

Smiling wearily Yugi placed a hand upon his friends shoulder, giving him a small shove, "come on."

Stumbling through the new dawns dim light, some distance from the land-drover Yugi paused, settling Sol down upon the ground, giving the lad a small pat of the head for good measure.

"Not too far," Yugi winked down at the boy.

"Yes Dad."

Yugi thinned his lips as Sol skipped away, he kept the boy in the corner of his vision as he turned to face the town in the distance, relieved that they would soon be reaching it. So far, he'd seen no sign of Raiders or of any dragons. He couldn't decide if such a thing was a good sign or a bad. He moved to where he'd left his pole speared into the ground and wretched it free.

Ryou sided up to him, the young lord rubbing his hands on a rag in his usual manner of hygiene. They stood side by side, watching the world brighten with each passing moment.

"You know, when it all looks like this, I can almost imagine everything back the way it used to be." Ryou whispered. Yugi leant on his pole, looking towards his friend and shaking his head at the white haired healer.

"I can't."

"I know you can't, but I can." Ryou breathed in deeply, "Sometimes I think you're the one who's been scarred the most Yugi."

"Don't see me complaining about it." Yugi cracked a grin.

"So, handsome knight?" Ryou chuckled, "never knew you went for the masculine kind."

"I don't." Smirking Yugi twirled his pole in the air, "you know me, Ryou but...Mr. Handsome Knight is a special case."

"Ah, I see, special case is he...must be rather dashing then to catch your warped eyes."

"Nope, not really." Yugi shrugged, "his nose is a little off, and he has this cut right here," drawing a line down his cheek Yugi smirked, "and he looks a lot like me, if I was...you know...taller and stockier and had a sexier voice." Yugi raised both eyebrows. "Basically he's the me a woman would go for."

Laughing Ryou bent to pluck Sol off the ground, "Would you call me strange if I told you I dream strange dreams too."

"Nope. I hear they're going around, you know, radiation and all." Yugi trudged back towards the land drover, noticing Malik, Kala and Joey were already beginning to rearrange the seats inside to begin their journey again towards the nearby town. "What do you dream?"

Ryou's gaze drew distant, "Of a world as white as snow and a man standing amongst it, shouting at me in another language I cannot understand. His skin is dark and I can see nothing put his red eyes. I seem to know him, no...not just know him like a friend, I know him like I know myself...and I try to reach him, I want to reach him but something is stopping me, a shadow stops me. I always wake up just before I can move..."

"I'm not a dream interrupter." Rubbing his chin Yugi thought for a moment, "rough call."

"Yes, I know." Smiling Ryou shrugged, "but we all dream, a reflection of our souls they are." The albino was rubbing the Ring around his neck, under his long shirt. Yugi noted the movement and touched his own in thought, having to wonder in that moment just what Alfred had meant by giving them the Items from long departed years, the Items their loved ones had died trying to uncover.

There had to be a reason.

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With very little trouble they had entered into the town. By now, the images of carnage and ruin along with the horrors of deaths were simply normal. Yugi had to wonder when in his life he started forgetting about existence before Tribulation, he'd been eight when the first dragon had risen from the tombs and about ten when the world had finally started to fall apart. Since then he'd seen things so horrifying, so vile, that he'd become blind to it all.

Even Sol had looked on with little understanding; after all, the boy had known nothing else in his life. This disgusting pile of dead bodies and burned cities was his world, this world after Tribulation. He could only be told stories of the splendour they'd had, how humans had once been able to fly, or travel to other continents, speak quickly over long distances and have books all in one little cube. To Sol, a CD player that played Disney music was like magic.

Therefore, the town was like anything else, another ruined world of people Sol had never known, of things he'd never known and world he'd never understand. Grabbing an i-phone from an electronics store was useless now, what was one to do with an i-phone if communications didn't exist? If the internet had no role in their lives, who would care that one could email or see images.

Sol obviously didn't. The boy found a stick more interesting than a DS. Yugi wasn't actually sure if the child was really missing out on all that much anyway, sticks could be pretty useful when someone thought about it hard enough.

Through the small town formally manicured yards had began to spread into fields, years of no human contact was plainly obvious. Houses having crumbled to the weather, roads covered in layers of moss and hair-like plants. The fires of the dragons had long ago caused the soils to become rich with nitrogen from the burning of towns, creating a forest throughout the intermitted housing. The dragons might have destroyed their world, but they'd given the world back to the animals and flora that had once ruled it. Twenty years after humans had scattered, dying in population to such a tiny number, Yugi had to admit, he was at a loss to figure if the world wasn't better off without them being the awful guardians of earth.

They had split into smaller groups, with Ryou taking Sol to search for medications, Malik and Joey hunting down new parts for the land-rover which left Yugi and Kala to do the localised shopping through what remained of the small main street. Shopping or looting, whichever one made more sense, though one couldn't really do either if no one was around to pay or to loot from.

Yugi watched the lonely dark interior of the shop for any movement, other than that of the chirping birds outside, perched upon the twisted branches of a vine riddled tree. The window had been shattered long ago, but most of the clothing had remained in storage, new fashions packed away that had never been uncovered. It was almost like stepping back in time to see what strange things people had been wearing back before Tribulation. All impractical garb anyway, but the belts did come in rather handy and the chains from old hand-bags he could use somehow.

Yugi had to smile faintly, despite the surroundings. He listened to Kala muttering in the changing cubical he leant against. Vegetation had crawled over the carpet and up the sides of the shop, creating an hanging world of vines like the interior of a cave.

So many people presumed dragons burned whatever they could, to feed on the ash but many towns outlining the waste-lands had become engulfed in the resilience of life, non-human life. The dragons ignored what they saw as natural and with the vegetation hiding the town, this world was a non-threatening world.

"Damn..."

"What?" Yugi tipped his head around, breaking out of his thoughts of the world beyond, "you alright?"

"I'm fine. Just fatter than I think I am."

"Curves sweetie, they're called curves. It's why Malik wants to make babies with you."

"Gee, thanks Yugi." Kala gave a muffled reply. "You really know how to improve a woman's self-image."

"You're most welcome." He tipped his head back, popping his jaw with a long, exhausted yawn. "You going to be finished soon, hon?"

"No."

"Come on," Yugi rolled his eyes, "we've been at this for ages."

"You're the one who wanted to come shopping with me." Kala thrust her head out the broken doorway, grinning impishly. "And you found some new clothes for yourself and Sol, so don't begrudge me for trying too."

Yugi poked her nose playfully, shaking his head. "Get back in there gorgeous."

"I wanted to know if you thought my butt looked big in this?" She joked.

"Yes, it does." Yugi propped his head upon the wall again, "but like I said before, that isn't an issue because your butt likes fine to me."

"You're perverted you know that, deep down inside!" She disappeared.

"Well, you called for it." He smirked. "I speak but truth..."

"Can you hand me that bra on the rack over there?"

Yugi glanced towards the rack, "which one, they all look the same."

"Left one, you idiot, what you think I'd fit into an AA cup." Her hand was stuck out the door way and Yugi threw the underwear into her grasp, turning back around and taking his position as guard upon the cubical wall. "You can't blame me for not knowing anything. I don't need to wear such things and I'm not perverted, I take offence at that. I'm a gentleman, I even open doors for you when I can find them. Back in two thousand and nine that was considered old-fashioned." He flicked his new pistol in the air, watching it shine in the light through the shattered window.

"Gentlemen don't make ladies like me go into that adult sex store down the road." Kala glared, her head appearing once more, a scowl upon it as she pointed in the offending direction.

"Hey, that wasn't for any other reason but because I needed to find these." Yugi held out iron hand cuffs, "Where else do you think I'd find some these days...plus, it was the only place along this entire street that wasn't broken into and you didn't need to come with me."

"Like you'd let me be left alone on the side of the road, please, Mr. Gentleman, you're like an over protective ex-boyfriend...actually, technically, you are an over-protective ex-boyfriend, if you count your wild years." Kala rolled her eyes, stepping out of the changing cubical, finally dressed in clothing that was no longer stained with blood and ash.

He always had to admire how she figured out clothing in this day-and-age. Considering he'd first met her back in London in a clothes shop he really shouldn't have been surprised that she was fashion conscious. Their very first conversation had covered the many uses of high-heel shoes and in the end; they had both agreed they were great weapons when needed but utterly useless to run in.

Yugi smiled at the odd memory of their rather amusing meeting and the hole they'd fallen down. He'd been such a wild teenager.

"Why do you need stuff like that anyway?" Kala frowned at the hand cuffs he placed back into his utility belt, were both his new set of guns and knives were strewn.

Once, she was positive, no one would have felt safe around this dark and twisted young man, but now, in a world so vile and dangerous, he was the kind who survived. He was a product of their world gone wrong.

Often she had to wonder just who and what he would have been without the dragons coming, would she have known him in that other life too? No, she knew the answer to that, she would never have met the amazing Yugi Motou, nor his friends, and therefore she'd have never met Malik Ishtar.

"Just a precaution encase we come across anyone that needs to be chained up." Yugi hoisted up the bags of gear they'd gathered. "It's better than rope; weak rope can be broken..."

Kala watched him in the dimming light, having to admire his lethal form in the new thick jeans he'd stumbled upon, he'd even managed to make a leather jacket look like body armour, having torn off its sleeves and used the excess leather as arm gauntlets.

There was nothing Yugi couldn't figure out.

"Raiders?" Kala pressed worriedly, a small shiver running down her spine at the thought of the radiation-scarred humans. Death by dragon was far better. She was more inclined to death by fire than by being stabbed, raped, mutilated and eaten, hopefully in that order.

"Possibly." Yugi shrugged, reaching for her hands, feeling the new gloves he'd found for her and rising her bare fingers to his lips. "Come on, milday, I'd best be getting you back to your over-protective boy-friend, and you think I'm bad. He's worse you know." He winked, turning away.

She stopped him, not releasing his hand from her grasp, remaining still, the look in her eyes lonely just for a brief second.

Yugi paused, noticing the stare, "Kala?"

"What if I...what if I told you something...I'm scared of telling you..." She trailed off, wincing.

Yugi dropped his bags, brushing a hand through his hair, "alright baby, what's wrong? You obviously asked me out here for another reason than shopping the dead people's houses and shops."

A blush riddled her cheeks, "I...I..."

"Kala..." Yugi raised an eyebrow, "we're two adults, I think I can take whatever you're trying to say like a man."

"I'm pregnant." She blurted out quickly.

Yugi flinched, "Er...no, you had your period a couple of days ago, I know you did, I sat with you-."

"The general feeling of being pregnant, Yugi." She glared flatly, as if was plainly obvious.

For a moment he looked torn between swearing loudly and hitting something. Kala winced as his fist hit the side of the changing cubical.

"Damn it Kala...why didn't you tell me then!?"

"Because you'd be worried!"

"Hell I'd be worried! I'm supposed to get worried about...things...like...that!" He threw her a glance, "is it Maliks?"

"Who else's would it be?" She snapped, insulted for a moment.

Shaking his head Yugi hit the wall again, "I knew the men of our community, Kala, they were freaking scum-bags, some of them anyway."

"I would have come to you if anyone tried anything, you know I would, Yugi. It's Malik's." She touched her stomach worriedly, "I've been with no one else..."

Yugi groaned, hitting the wall again with his gloved fist.

"When Kala..." He figured it couldn't have been to long ago, he hadn't noticed it, or maybe he hadn't been looking.

She started to sob, "I don't know...we just...it just happened once Yugi-."

Yugi held up his hands, grabbing her cheeks, "Okay, okay, sweetie, I don't need to know how it happened, I get the picture." He sighed, standing on tip toes to kiss her forehead. "We'll talk this over, alright...it'll be okay, you'll see...it'll be okay." He reached out, picking a flower from a vine and tucking it gently in her hair.

Tears threaded their way down her dirty cheeks, "I'm sorry Yugi-."

"Kala, you don't need to be sorry about getting pregnant!" He threw his arms open, "its a normal thing. You're a woman; Malik's a man, what happens when you get one of each who are in love like you two. You shouldn't have been scared of telling me. Baby, I need to know these things so I can look after you better."

"I just...didn't want to disappoint you."

"Gee, I'm not your papa." Yugi laughed weakly, "what, do you want me bend you over my knee and whack you a few as punishment?" He shook his head, "Darling...we're a family of lost brothers and a little sister," Yugi held her tightly, kissing her head of hair and strengthening his grasp around her waist, "and I ain't gonna stop loving you just because you got hitched to an idiot like Malik. You could do a lot worse...he's a good, good man. I wouldn't have let you settle for just anyone."

He managed to get a small giggle out of her, through sniffled sobs, and he tried to find the heart to smile.

Yet deep down, the spear of slowly creeping fear for those he loved and protected was piecing deeper and deeper, leaving him with the uncontrollable sensation of being weak.

How he hated feeling weak.

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Knowing she was pregnant made him feel slightly more obligated to be slower and gentler as they struggled their way through the town, following the makers Ryou and Sol had left and the signs of the land-rover having passed through the forgotten, lonesome streets. Kala kept his pace easily, proving to him she was no lesser the woman from the confrontation over her current state.

He admired that, truthfully he did. She was and always would be the woman he admired for the courage and strength she revealed in a world gone wrong. The world needed women, strong women, not just strong men.

She was their mother and he knew she would make a good mother in the future. He should have been happy and once, he would have, had their lives been different. He could almost imagine himself being told the news at a family picnic, being excited and laughing about going baby shopping.

That was a world away.

A baby.

Yes, Kala would make a good mother and Malik was possibly the best man to be a father and they would be happy, he'd make sure of that. Only, though, if he could protect her, her child, Malik, Joey, Ryou and Sol long enough. At the sight of the land-rover heading towards them, rattling down the road, Yugi stopped, relief touching his limbs, making him light headed as the car pulled up and a door swung open, revealing Sol happily dangling out with a wild grin across his features.

"We found a way to the church Dad!"

Yugi shoved Sol back into the land-rover, hoisting himself up to shuffle in beside the boy as Kala headed to the other side. Ignoring the use of seat-belts, they hardly mattered with no road-rules and cops to follow, Yugi plucked Sol off the seat and into his lap as Ryou pointed a head to where Joey was directing their vehicle. It had been a tricky job getting through the ruined roads but Joey had managed the task with ease, proving just how much of a four-wheel driver he would have been had his life panned out differently.

"It appears a road is cleared to the church, this is a good sign for us, it means someone is looking after the place and making sure people, like us, know it's under keep." Ryou summarised, glancing around the well kept garden; the only area of the town that had been kept up and looking delightfully odd amongst the wild forest. The mutated flowers odd in their brightly coloured appearances but appearing beautiful rowed up around the road up to the church.

The building had suffered abuse, that much was obvious in the cracks and broken windows. No one could save something so beautiful, not in a forest that was steadily approaching, despite the care whoever dwelled in the church put into fighting the spreading wild.

Yugi nodded, "Good, Joey, get us as close as you can, but I don't want the land-rover visible...park it somewhere in the bushes, but close enough to find if we need it."

"Sure thing Yug." Joey twirled the land-drover, "will do."

Five minutes in it became apparent that more than one person was up keeping the church grounds. What had once been the grave-yard had been turned into a thriving vegetable garden. Though the dragons would ignore the vegetable scent amongst the forest and apple trees throughout the town, having a garden above ground in such clear daylight meant whoever lived in the church had good quality de-scenting equipment that stopped dragons scenting humans on the wind. They did not attack flora for simply being flora without desperately needing ash, humans where far more enjoyable to crisp up. Maybe humans created a different flavoured ash?

They pulled into the yard, Malik jumping out first, pulling out his dragon blade and golden Rod, leaning on it as he surveyed the world with careful eyes.

Half of the town had been barricaded up, long ago. Looking at the sandbags now, how pathetic an attempt the humans had made against the rise of the dragons and the final come of the nuclear weapons the world leaders had used, felt so pathetic.

"Well," Ryou sighed, climbing out of the land-drover, "got to give them credit for trying...I mean, they managed to save some of the town and this church. The approaching forest protects them more than anything else."

Yugi gave a snort, reaching into the van and hoisting Sol out. The boy worriedly looking around the area towards the looming old church building, the first the child had seen in his short life. London's had been too far gone when Yugi had found the boy, and he doubted the lad could remember much of the great city he'd found him in. London had been a sad sight, even five years after it had been evacuated, and now, Yugi doubted much of it remained to grace them with memories of its splendour.

"I imagine this monastery is the only thing left for miles." Yugi brushed back a lock of Sol's brown-golden fringe, kissing the child's cheek before reaching into the car and grabbing the bag Yami had supplied him with the latter night.

"Come on, let's see if we can apply for sanctuary."

"You think that still works?" Joey pulled a face, locking the car. "After all this time?"

"Sure it does," Kala piped up from under Malik's arm, "something's never change."

"I know, but...it just looks like an old run down church." The American scratched his head.

"It's supposed to." Yugi laughed gently, "the real world is underground." He slapped his friend over the back, heading up the cracked and decayed, though well swept and cleared stairs of the old building. In the dim light of the fading day, the stained glass windows reflected a sheen across the world like ever watching eyes. Sol pressed closer to his protector.

"Dad?" He whispered softly and Yugi felt the breath against his ear.

"Yes Sol?"

"Uncle Ryou...well...he always said the bad guy was the dragon, you know, in the old good book you'd read to me before bed when I was scared?"

"Yeah," Yugi nodded, placing down the bag and raising a hand to rap his knuckles over the wood of the large looming doors, "in the old medieval times he was displayed as being a big fire breathing beast...or something like that. I never really looked up on it Solly."

"Well...I think I know who started that up?"

"You do?" Yugi slammed his knuckles onto the wood, listening to the echo resound within an empty hall.

"Zorc did...the Shadow Dragon!"

Yugi sighed heavily, "Okay, Sol, I'm really not following you. How about we leave the stories and fairy-tales to the bards and let's concentrate on getting a good, good long night sleep tonight without fear of Raiders or dragons-."

"Or people stealing our jeep!?"

"That's right." Yugi nodded, wincing as Malik beat his fists upon the doors. "Gee, Malik, overkill?"

"What, they weren't answering your womanly fingers patting the door." The Egyptian sneered playfully, stepping aside to miss Yugi's swung fist in his direction.

They paused as a soft voice spoke from inside and Yugi snapped his attention around, straining to hear the words.

"Who goes, speak, friend or foe?"

"Like a foe would answer foe." Joey grumbled, suppressing a yelp as Ryou kicked him hard. Yugi glared at them both before replying.

"Yugi Motou, friend. Our community was burned down by a dragon a number of days ago, we come seeking sanctuary if you are willing to offer it. We have medical supplies to trade, and a pregnant woman and child with us also."

"I'm not pregnant-." Kala began and Malik quickly slapped a hand over her mouth, whispering something into her ear, causing her eyes to widen and glare darkly at the Egyptian. Yugi bit his lips to hold back his snigger, knowing his friend was going to get a firm tongue lashing at some point.

"Yugi Motou..." The voice behind the door replied softly, "I've heard your voice on the radio a few times..."

Yugi raised an eyebrow for a moment before nodding in understanding, "yes...yes, I used to broadcast podcasts about dragon activity every Saturday night, eight-ten on the mark." He smiled faintly, "glad to know it helped some people."

"Oh, it did, I assure you greatly, it did." The sound of unbolting locks caused them all to relax their tense muscles and they watched as the door carefully opened just enough for a young man to step through. Dressed in the monk fashion of the east, Yugi had to admire to the beautiful colours the youth had managed to figure into the clothing, like it had been tie-dyed. Asian in appearance he was only just slightly taller than Yugi, though he was sure the young monk hadn't stopped growing. His head was bald but tattooed beautifully in intricate designs, in the manner of an arrow that once noticed, it was then obvious that the design followed over his body to run down his arms and legs.

"Welcome to Devintill Monastery, you will have your sanctuary, travellers, I am sorry...for your losses. I am Aang."

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Yami had no choice but to let the tournament continue. He knew this close to the festivities he had little say in stopping the knights from jousting and fighting, not with wish-washy ideas of mind-controlling dragon toxins.

Not even is father, as loving and understanding as the man was, would believe such tales without proof. Sure, Atum Amir might have been a Dragonologist but dragons had been proven, they'd destroyed the world, but no one had proved them to be anything more than beasts.

Yami doubted his father would believe them intelligent, even if the legends said one of them had been intelligent enough to understand, love and believe a human, to bond with a human soul.

Maybe the man simply thought, Yami considered, that as Pharaoh he had tamed the dragon, as though it was a pet. After all, he was sure his father would be amazingly proud of having a son who could tame a dragon.

Such thoughts couldn't have been anymore wrong.

Yugi was not a pet, he was a sentient being, who thought, loved and lived just like any other human, just as he had done so before, in his life as Heba.

Yami gripped his claymore, furious tension churning through his body. Tristan had checked and double checked every knight's weapon for any sign of foul play, but had come up with naught. Yami couldn't blame Pegasus for stealing Yugi's jeep if no one knew who Yugi was, nor could he peg the man for having dragon toxins if there was no visible sign of any within the keeps grounds.

He simply had to hope that none of his knights would be stupid enough to get harmed, this dragon toxin didn't kill, it consumed energy from anything and the last thing he wanted was a consumed knight and more of their power cores going down during a festival.

He could see the panic that would happen if their shields failed, the shields that kept dragons from scenting them and destroying all they'd built up.

He wanted Hedingham to forever be a safe place for people, for people like Yugi and those he protected. The roar of the crowd echoed in his ears as Bakura slapped a helmet down over his head, kicking his backside with a hard foot, making him stumble slightly.

"Come on Temmy, wake up yer old loon, yer've got a tournament to win. Go kick Pegasus balls in for me!"

Yami hissed through his black armour, glaring daggers at the white knight, glossy armour bloodied and dented, smeared in mud, from his prior fight. The wild look in the man's eyes showed just how much he loved fighting.

Yami breathed out deeply, his fingers tightening around his blade and slowly he wandered out into the mud of the fighting ring. All around the spectators of every class cheered and he tried to force himself to stand taller, giving a wave. His father, in the royal box, was smiling in victory already. Passing by the children piled upon the railing Yami paused as a small girl ducked through the wooden fence, holding out a woven scarf.

He would have knelt if his armour had allowed for it, instead he touched her head carefully as her large wide eyes looked upwards into his hidden features.

"I made this sir, for good luck sir."

Yami held out his wrist, "thank you very much." He watched as she tightly bound it under his gauntlet. "If I win, I'll return to give you a kiss fair lady, for your blessing."

She hugged him tightly around one of his thick legs before running back to climb through the fence. Chuckling through his visor Yami turned to trudge through the thick mud, towards the centre of the ring, watching his opponent in shined, knew armour, walk elegantly in his direction.

Pegasus.

With his beautifully carved armour in the winged horses form, the man was a true knight. Yami gritted his teeth under his helmet, glaring at the man, feeling the anger that he'd dare leave Yugi and his people in the waste-lands without supplies, he'd not taken them to Hedingham to be safe.

That enough would be enough to win the fight.

The bell sounded.

Yami stepped easily to one side, closing his eyes, allowing the abilities that made him a great knight to take over. He was no longer in control of his body, instead, it was moving on its own and he swept his blade upwards, clashing Pegasus's sword downward and across. They sparred back and forth, both ignoring the cries of the crowd.

Yami hissed as his foot carried him backwards, the mud splattering and jarring him heavily. Pegasus's took the moment to smash his helmet firmly into his temple with the side of his elbow. Yami blinked back blood, dropping to the ground in a low crouch, throwing his helmet off, and wiping blood from his vision, holding up his blade to catch the swinging blow Pegasus's heaved down to knock him flat.

Smirking as they became wedged in a draw of strength Yami stared into the elder knights hidden face, "that jeep you gave my father," his hissed, "I know who you took it form."

Pegasus's grip tightened.

"What?"

"His name is Yugi Motou, you left him and those he protected out in the waste-lands when you had the chance to be a true knight and offer them aid. You disgust me. You might have my father's ear, Pegasus, but you'd do well to remember who takes the throne of Hedingham after my father...me...and I am not my father. I do not accept cheats and liars into my house."

Yami sensed the faint note of distraction and sized it. With a loud shout he kicked out a leg, knocking the taller man off his balance. Twirling his claymore up and around Yami buried it into Pegasus's shoulder, sliding keenly through the chain-mail. The man howled in agony, wrenching to one side. Yami smashed a foot down upon his breast-plate.

"Do you yield?!"

"You...you..."

"DO YOU YIELD?"

"I yield." Pegasus spluttered and Yami hoisted up his sword, releasing the man and turning to the crowds cheers. He smiled, weakly.

Once their voices would have spurred him onward, given him reason to continue as a knight, once the faces that surrounded him had filled the void inside but they didn't any longer.

Now his memories told him otherwise. He was missing half of himself and no amount of cheering or winning would fill that hole.

Ignoring Pegasus struggling to rise, Yami trudged his way back towards his tent where Bakura was happily clapping in victory.

"Good fight Yami!" Duke piped up as Yami threw down his claymore and collapsed into a seat.

"You should have wounded old Peggy more though, he'll be alright to fight again in the next round against me!" The model snorted, folding his arms across his chest and pouting in annoyance, "and I don't look forward to having a pissed off Pegasus in the same ring as me."

"Sorry," Yami forced a grin, "you know me and my policy of not marring a man too deeply. It's the pride I aim for and I think I hit Pegasus right where it hurts." The young heir chuckled darkly, "Yugi's going to be pleased."

"Yugi?" Duke blinked.

Yami paused and glanced towards his fellow knight, "Leave it Duke."

"But-."

"Leave it, or I swear I will break your pride as well and tell all the ladies of our lovely home that you have a-."

"Fine, fine...I'll drop it." Duke threw up his hands in a begging action, "sorry!" Duke swung out of the tent, "gee..."

Bakura crouched, aiding Yami in pulling off his armour, "you really know what buttons to push don't you Temmy."

Yami shrugged, "what can I say, I know where a man's pride lies and you know where to aim."

"Remind me to always stay on your good side."

"I doubt you could do much to get on my bad side Felix." Smiling at his friend Yami managed to shove away the memories of his life as Pharaoh aside, knowing that during that time, Bakura had done something that had torn their friendship, though he still had no idea what that something had been. All he knew was that it had happened.

Never would he allow such a thing to happen again – whatever it had been.

"We're fighting next you know," Bakura offered, "if I knock you out, you're out of the entire tournament."

"Same to you." Yami forced a dark smirk, hoping it would cover his real reason for his hope in their next fight. If he knocked Bakura out of the tournament early then his beloved friend would have no chance of coming in contact with the dragon toxin.

"Don't bet that I'll be easy to take down."

"I'm counting on a good fight." Yami raised his eyebrows, "don't go easy on me."

"Oh," Bakura ruffled his friend's hair fondly, bending and kissing his cheek in a sloppy action, "I won't Temmy, I won't!"

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The monastery was situated underground, in a thriving world that Yugi found quite impressive. It was unusual, he knew, for a community of monks to make such a community. It wasn't large; it couldn't have been, considering their de-scenting equipment would only cover certain amount of space. For what there was, it was beautifully, lovingly made by hands of the young and the old. Monks of different religions wandered through carved out tunnels, smiling at them in greeting as they walked past, following young Aang's form through the fire lit underground hallways. The young monk was happily chatting away to Sol, in whom he'd found an audience in. Yugi simply felt happy that the child was distracted enough not to notice the less happier side of the monks good works. There were always burns to treat, people to tend to, in this dying world.

Through the interchanging walk ways they where lead until they where deep in the underground caverns, carved out of limestone and lit with great burning cauldrons. Across bridges they walked, staring down at the houses that had been built underground, etched out of the stones. When they reached land once more, they were on the far side of what appeared to be the largest cavern of the monastery.

Aang turned in their direction.

"My Master will speak with you in the morning; he is currently in prayer. But right now, we'll have food and drink brought to you and then you are welcome to bath and rest." Aang slid open a large iron door into a small set of rooms with readied beds, "these are for travellers. You'll find what you need here. I do apologise, but as a precaution, I will need to lock you all in....we've...had some..."

Yugi held up a hand, giving a nod, "I understand, please...we won't take offence at being treated in such a manner until you know us as trustworthy. I would do the same."

Aang nodded, "thank you, sir, for your understanding."

"No, thank you for the beds." Kala whispered from under Malik's arm, "they look amazing."

The young monk gave laugh, "it's a pleasure milady...good dreams to you all." He bowed low and passed out the door, sliding it shut. Yugi listened as a lock was chained into place, keeping them enclosed within the traveller's rooms.

"Yer...are we...prisoners?" Joey scratched his head.

Yugi patted his friend on the back, "no, I can imagine some people have taken advantage of the sanctuary these monks offer. By locking us in they make sure their people are not harmed and we remain here. Come on," he hoisted Sol over his shoulder, "let's make the most of this...lovely place." Yugi glanced around, the little travellers rooms had been so beautifully done up, with matching sets of beds, sheets, pillows, cups and plates. The monks had obviously had the time to spend on their good-will. Noticing Ryou was picking up a hand crafted plate Yugi watched as the young English Lord ran fingers over the etched edges.

"What is it Ryou?"

"The Lord's Prayer." Ryou gave a small laugh, "they actually bothered to carve things into the clay. How...special. They take pride in their work."

"Good for them," Yugi headed towards the bathroom, "I'm going to take pride in God's handy work and wash this thing I call a body. If you hear torturous screams, it'll be me trying to scrub the mud and clay from Sol's ears."

"I don't want a bath." Sol squeaked.

Yugi gave a mad cackle, "well guess what, pip-squeak," he tipped the boy upside down, "you're getting one, cause I'm saying so!"

"Aww, but Dad!"

"Aww, but Solly." Yugi smirked. "Come on, you little terror...time for a good scrub!"

They bathroom set up was simple, with a large tub in the centre, buried into the stone floor, and a few little bits and pieces spread around. Yugi threw down his large bag as he shoved shut the iron door, kneeling to pulling things Yami had given him. Sol was staring oddly at the water tap and Yugi had to smile at the boy's curious nature at the idea that water could spray out of pipes in either hot or cold. Some places still had gas heating, and obviously this monastery had such luxury. Pulling out a bottle Yugi stared at the contents.

"Shampoo?" He whispered, turning the bottle around, "It's been years since I've seen shampoo."

Sol poked up under his arm, gazing at the contents of the bag.

"Dad, what's this stuff?"

"For baths Sol." Yugi popped open the bottle and sniffed at the contents. "Lord, smell that..." He gave it to Sol.

The boy pulled a face. "What is it?"

"Shampoo, for washing your hair...it smells like coconut oil. They must have someone who makes it..."

"Who are they?"

"My knight." Yugi winked as he knelt by the large basin and turned the taps. He watched in hungered delight as the water poured out. It smelt purified and he was sure the monks worked hard to make the water as uncontaminated as possible. He poured a blob of shampoo into the quickly filling bath, watching bubbles form. Sol giggled in delight and Yugi ruffled the boy's mop of hair before crouching to begin peeling of the worn, dirty layers of clothing. Underneath Sol was a pale, skinny little twig and he forced away the pain his chest that came from the inability to provide enough for the child so that he was healthy and fit. Still, the boy didn't seem to mind, instead with squeals of delight he jumped into the bath, splashing enthusiastically at the bubbles.

"Careful Solomon," Yugi unbuckled his belts and weapons one by one, folding up his leather vest and jacket, before stripping off his hard boots and wincing at the sight of his blistered and worn feet. Old pale and glossy burn marks where visible across his legs and up his torso, revealing just how many times he'd played a death dance with dragons. He wondered for an odd moment what Yami would have thought of his ruined skin, the scars and the hard muscles from years of living in a world gone wrong. Carefully he folded up the remainder of his clothes and slid into the hot tub, closing his eyes in relief at the heat, sensing it instantly displacing the grime, ash and muck that had crusted over his skin. Sol poked his head through the bubbles, grinning happily.

"This is great Dad!"

Yugi nodded, "The little things in life Solomon, can sometimes be the greatest of delights. Make the most of this," Yugi reached for a scrubber, waving it at the boy, "I doubt we'll get another bath anytime soon so...guess where this is going?"

"You'll have to catch me first!" Sol squealed, splashing away as his parent reached for him, ensuing laughter through the steamy air of the stone carved room.

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Staring at the flicking flames of the candle he held Yugi carefully plotted his way through the little joining room between the traveller's courters of the Monastery. Peering into each room in silence he spotted the sleeping forms of each of his friends, making sure he knew where each of them lay. Coming finally to Malik and Kala's room he spied the two sitting awake atop their bed, Malik gripping her hands tightly as she sobbed.

Obviously she'd finally broken her news to him.

For a moment Malik glanced up and Yugi felt their eyes touch. The blond Egyptian's brow furrowed and Yugi forced a weak smile, one Malik slowly returned. They would be together, through it all, Yugi knew, every bump, up and down, they would weather together.

He turned away, back to his own room were a bed was waiting. A real bed. Not just one with straw stuffed into a sheet, this was a real mattress made with loving hands. So soft to his limbs he could swear he was lying on a cloud.

Easing the door shut just enough to block out the light from the burning cauldron within the centre of the travellers courters Yugi settled down his candle and slid into the covers of the glorious bed. He blew the flame out and wrapped himself tightly in the blankets.

With a sigh he settled down, glancing over the bed towards Sol. He reached over, using rough fingers to stroke the child's forehead. Pausing Yugi frowned slightly, his mind drifting to the boy's odd questions, odd ideas and odd thoughts. Even Joey and Ryou had been speaking of dreams and worlds beyond that which they'd known, even before Tribulation had fallen across the earth. With a small shuffle Yugi propped himself up, careful not to jolt the bed as he picked back Sol's loose shirt, finding the blue crystal the little boy had found the latter day lying tied with a strap of leather around his neck.

Yugi breathed out deeply, feeling for the inverted pyramid loose under his own shirt, ever a pulsing object like a silently speaking heart.

"A world of magic and dragons..." He whispered, "what...is going on?"

Leaning back into the bed he curled up tightly, safe in the knowledge that once sleep came, he would see his knight again, the one, ever present thing in his life.

"See, Grandpa..." Yugi whispered, "I'll be okay..."

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_Yami wandered silently through the garden, staring at the flowers, wondering what they'd look like without the grey wash covering them. He could only hope that one night he'd come to find himself in the dream world full of bright colours and shimmering light. He carried a bag of supplies, what he could gather up off handily. Yugi had started requesting things once they'd settled into a rhythm and he was only too happy to oblige. _

_Coming to their usual spot beside the large tree and the seating of rocks Yami place down the bag he held, glancing around, smiling as he spotted Yugi walking elegantly towards him a much happier swing to his walk. He still looked tired; exhausted was possibly the more appropriate word and he wished beyond anything to give the beautiful young man a place to rest without fear of the safety of his family. Still, even now the Yugi he was seeing looked oddly different with a smile and by all appearances he'd had a wash and was wearing cleaner, newer clothes._

_The knight offered a warm greeting._

"_Greetings, little one."_

_Yugi wandered up to him, staring into his blood red eyes. _

"_You look stoned, handsome." Yugi tipped on his hips, "drinking is bad for you."_

"_I don't drink," Yami rolled his eyes, "ever since it got me in an awful amount of trouble...no...long day, tournament, dancing, food...talking...I think my body is glad to be in bed."_

_Yugi laughed aloud, "mine is too and can you believe it, I'm in a real bed!" He threw his arms open, "with a mattress...an honest to heaven mattress made of stuff that mattresses are made out of!" He bounced and Yami grinned as his small look-alike happily clapped in glee. Reaching out he caught Yugi's hands, spinning him around._

"_Were I with you," Yami turned him through the air, "I'd bounce on it and watch you laugh."_

"_Contrary to popular belief," Yugi twisted around, hooking a leg under Yami's, wrenching and knocking the man onto the ground with an easy, swift movement, "I am not a man who sits and watches others enjoy bouncing on beds unless I am also being childish."_

"_Well," Yami lay on the ground for a moment, staring up at the young man, "contrary to popular belief, I am not a soft man, you bring me down and I will take you down with me."_

_Yugi's eyes flicked downward slightly before he gave a squeak as the knight kicked out, throwing Yugi off balance._

_The smaller landed hard on the knight, winding them both, causing laughter to erupt between coughing for air. They sparred, fighting for dominance until Yugi broke away, flopping back onto the grey grass, lying and staring upwards at the clearing sky of their in-between world. _

"_Damn, I forgot how fun play fighting is..." He whispered, "it's always fighting for my life these days, never for just the heck of being masculine. You know, I can't even imagine fighting in a tournament like you, to entertain other people by smashing another over the head or spearing them with a jousting pole."_

"_I don't," Yami sat up, giving a stretch, "actually enjoy it anymore. I did, once, when I was younger...but...it does not give the same pleasure any longer."_

"_Growing up are you handsome?" Yugi chuckled, giving the knight a playful wink. "Welcome to the real world."_

_Yami tipped his head, "Grown men still enjoy fighting, maybe I'm just...starting to see myself differently. I will take my father's place one day and I really don't see how me winning tournaments helps prepare me for becoming a godly man of justice and the ability to protect my people."_

"_You'll make a great Earl Yami." Yugi flipped aside his fringe, "I bet your Father is proud of you..."_

"_Yes," Yami smiled weakly, "he is overly proud of me..." Flicking dirt out of his nails Yami sighed heavily, resting his head back, "but he has always been such a man. He is trying to hold together a world he cannot control."_

"_Aren't we all." Yugi added, "maybe we need to learn that we cannot control it and that instead we should change with it." His hand touched Yami's for a moment, "doesn't that make more sense than trying to stop something that cannot be stopped? We won't ever go back to the world we once had, maybe we shouldn't?"_

"_Wise little Yugi." Yami chuckled at the smaller man. _

_Yugi shrugged._

"_So where are you at the moment, if I may inquire? Apparently a place with a real bed I am presuming?" Yami crossed his legs upon the grass, leaning back into the curve of the trees roots._

_Yugi glanced in his direction from where he lay beside him, stretched out upon the ground with his arms lazily behind his head. _

"_You may inquire, pampered knight. We're in an underground Monastery. We applied for sanctuary for a number of days until I can figure out what do to."_

"_What do you need to figure out, you're coming to Hedingham Keep?" Yami sat forward, frowning at his counter-part, "Right?"_

"_If the others agree, then yes maybe, but odd things are happening...I feel...strange, wrong, like pieces of a puzzle are slowly falling into place and yet I cannot see the full picture. Only the edges of the puzzle had been finished, the middle section I need to figure out."_

_Yami crinkled his nose as Yugi slipped out a hand from under his head, his fingers beginning to play with the golden pendent under his shirt. _

_The young heir bent forward, wishing beyond anything that he could actually smell the young man's scent. Right now, he could only imagine, or try to recall in his memories of Heba, what the young man across from him smelt like. He'd changed his clothing; no longer did he have a bedraggled appearance. In fact, Yami was sure he'd washed very carefully, bathed himself in oils and even managed to cut his wild mop of hair into some form of style. He wore a sleek, tight shirt that rid up his lean middle, displaying the white paleness of the skin spread over taunt muscles. _

"_Nice clothes? Did you dress up just for me?" Yami chuckled, looking down at his own attire. _

_He'd actually managed to climb into night clothing that night, after changing a very drunk Bakura, he'd figured he may as well put himself into better clothing that didn't stink like mead._

"_Maybe." Yugi smirked playfully, rising a foot and poking Yami in the middle. "Kala went shopping...or...so she calls it, I went along to make sure she didn't buy out the neighbourhood, and Sol needed some new shoes. He may be short and tiny, but boy does that kid go through shoes..."_

"_You could have asked me, I'd have brought you clothes...and Sol shoes." Yami offered. _

"_Sorry Mr. Buff man, but I doubt your clothes would fit me and I like fending for myself, you should know that by now, handsome." Yugi flipped up into a seated position, eyeing Yami, "so, how did the party go?"_

_Waving a hand Yami sighed, "Oh, I danced with a few girls, made sure Bakura didn't drink himself to the point of not being able to hold a sword tomorrow..." the knight shrugged, "avoided people I don't like, got whacked over the head by Mai a few more times for reasons I am unaware of. Oh...and had a lark of a time trying to convince Duke that I am not currently, secretly involved with an unknown lover. Bakura didn't help in the matter, in fact, I am sure he made it worse...can Yugi be a girl's name too?"_

"_Got no idea on that one, sorry, it means game if you must know."_

"_Game, really?" Yami smiled, though already knowing, he decided to play dumb anyway._

"_Yup. Grandpa liked games and considering my parents didn't name me...well, he did. I don't know, maybe he thought I was going to be part of some big game God plays...or something dramatic like that."_

"_I was born in a tomb of a pharaoh, underground; mother went into labour a day too soon." Yami pouted, "Bakura believes I am therefore cursed..."_

_Yugi laughed in delight, then paused and frowned, "Bakura...wouldn't by any chance be white haired, scary and yet amusing at points?"_

_Yami stoped from picking at the grass, his blood red eyes jerking towards Yugi in sudden surprise._

"_I take it from your stunned silence that he is?"_

"_Yes..."_

"_Bleached or natural?"_

"_Natural, he's not albino though, his skin is too dark for that, he has pigment in it...he had brown hair once, but it went white...from stress I think. Why Yugi?"_

_Yugi groaned, flopping back onto the grass and casting his legs high in the movement._

"_Sol...he had some kind of dream or keeps having them. I got angry at him...I...I don't...I don't get angry at my child but what he said...."_

"_What did he say Yugi? What was the dream about?" _

"_You or...a Pharaoh you... He doesn't know your name, I never told it to him but he knew your name, he knew about your friend and...me...he said I was a dragon. Do you...do you know how that made me feel...that...my son, who I saved and love beyond anyone, who I protect with my life, he called me a monster."_

"_Maybe he doesn't see all dragons as monsters Yugi-."_

"_A dragon destroyed our home!"_

"_Maybe it wasn't his home."_

"_Don't think you know me-."_

"_Yugi," Yami reached out, grabbing the young man's wrists, yanking them down into his lap, forcing him to look into his red eyes, "you accused me of being a dragon the day...I mean...the night, we started having these little strange magical dream-chats, I reacted badly to that too..."_

_Yugi snorted through his nose, but didn't turn away, locked upon the knights eyes as they watched him, studying him inside and out. _

"_Something tells me, Yugi, you know the legend behind that Item you're wearing-."_

"_Please don't." Yugi whispered hoarsely, "don't tell me you know the stories too? All my life, Yami, I have been surrounded by dragons, by fire and stories of a world gone. I thought you were the one person who wouldn't care." His tone was broken and Yami closed his eyes from the tears visibly dribbling down soft cheeks. Slowly Yugi bent forward, pressing into the knights lap, giving a soft, weak sob._

"_I hate this, I hate it all, I hate living everyday without knowing hope..."_

"_Oh Yugi," rubbing away strands of hair Yami creased his brow, "please, Yugi, there is hope. Look, you're still alive, we're here, tonight talking. We're evening cracking jokes at each other; we talk about Sol, your friends...life."_

"_But what does it matter! I'm going insane, I'm slowly, slowly going insane aren't I!?" Yugi curled up tighter. _

"_No, you are not Yugi, I can assure you that."_

"_You can," Yugi whispered, "how...you're not a shrink..."_

"_I don't have to be," chuckling Yami brought the young man's face close, "I'm me and I'm telling you, Yugi Motou, that you're not insane...though, in truth, all the best people are. Hence why Bakura is my best friend, he's insane."_

_Daring a weak smile Yugi closed his eyes, "can we just rest here for awhile, not talk, just...rest...I'm so tired Yami."_

"_Rest all you want, Yugi." Yami closed his eyes, whispering in an undertone, "I made this garden for you to rest..."_

_It wasn't really sleeping, Yami figured, they couldn't sleep in their in-between world, yet the peace he felt come over Yugi was a form of sleep. He was glad the hard and crusted young man in his lap could relax enough in his presence to give into a peaceful rest. _

_They remained in the position for a forgotten length of time, until neither could practically care any longer at how they appeared._

_Yami stirred as he sensed Yugi shift and slowly pull himself into a sitting position. The knight forced himself to breath naturally, seeing in that lucid moment that Yugi blessed him with, a side of the young man he doubted very many saw._

_It was his gift, the Yugi he wanted no one else to see, the flushed and weak Yugi with trembling hands and a mess of hair over weary eyes. This was his dragon, the beautiful creature he'd given half his soul to, to create another of himself._

_Yami flinched at how awfully territorial he could feel himself becoming, almost as if he was more the dragon and for a moment he had to wonder if receiving a dragons eyes had meant he'd become less human. He could, after all, fight and win against any man he'd ever battled, without needing to have his eyes open; surely such a thing would explain his greatness in battle._

"_You alright?" Yami broke the silence. Yugi tensed again, becoming hard and clenched like a spring, almost as if the voice brought him back to reality. _

"_Weary..." Yugi managed a weak smiled at the knight, "this world and its burden weights much upon me."_

"_You bear too much of it Yugi," Yami offered, reaching out his scarred hand, cupping a cheek, wishing it was a real touch._

_Yugi chuckled darkly, bending into the pressure of the fingers, "can you blame me?"_

"_No, not really...you have a big heart...you wish to save everyone and everything you come across."_

_Breathing in deeply Yugi curled his knees up, leaning against a large rock beside their over-hanging tree. He opened his purple eyes, glancing towards Yami and briefly admiring the sullen knight in his loose fitting white night shirt, stained with a little blood from the wounds he'd obviously suffered during the fighting that day._

"_I found out today that Kala is pregnant...Malik's child..." Yugi bent his head between his knees, "you know, once, being told that your best-friends are going to be parents was cause for a celebration...now...it's...a burden, a worry, a concern that there will be another life to look after and hell...so many women die in child birth these days. I know Kala's well endowed for this kind of thing but...I...I still worry. If Malik lost her...if we lost her, it would be a spear to us all. We are such a close family. A baby Yami." Yugi shook his head in denial. "How the hell am I supposed to look after a baby, Sol is hard enough and he's just five!" He cast himself back onto the ground, groaning and rubbing his fists into his eyes to grind out his frustration._

"_She's not that far along that you noticed?" Yami forced himself not to smile at the sight Yugi made upon the ground, beating the earth with a fist._

"_No." Yugi shook his head._

"_Then you have time to come to Hedingham, we've got the facilities here...very rarely do we lose our women in child-birth. Doesn't this give you a reason to tell your people to come here where it safe, if they have a reason, such as the life of a child and its mother, they won't judge you or ask you how or why you know of a safe place."_

_Yugi sat up, staring at the knight in surprise, "you know, your devious plan might just work..." Gathering himself into a standing position Yugi began too pace, "but Malik might argue that we remain part of the monastery for the time being...though, I dislike being in an area with so much around for a dragon to burn into ash. Even if this monastery has great de-scenting equipment it makes me uneasy." _

_Yami watched as Yugi shivered._

_He stood to join the young man, reaching out and touching Yugi's shoulders. _

"_Talk to them, Yugi...please. I promise you, if you make it to Hedingham I will give you and Sol a home. I'm not just a knight; I'm heir to my father's lands...you'll be safe with me."_

_Yugi tilted back slightly, trying to look Yami straight into his blood red eyes, "what am I to you, Atemu Amir? That you would offer me such splendour? That you care? I am a tortured, beaten and ruined soul..." Spreading his hands Yugi fanned his tiny frame, "I am nothing."_

_Yami's mouth dried as he stared, unable to come up with the words he wished to say. He tried to speak but paused the moment his mouth opened. His shoulder twitched as he jerked around at the odd sensation of being shaken._

"_What is it?" Yugi worriedly spoke up._

"_Someone's trying to wake me." Yami glanced away, "I'm sorry Yugi, I have to go." _

"_No, it's alright..." Yugi smiled weakly, "go, you've got duties to attend to."_

_Shaking his head Yami reached out, touching Yugi's free hand, "see you tomorrow night, I'll bring Sol something."_

"_If you survive your tournament." Playfully Yugi kicked the knight retreating backside, "Knock'em dead handsome."_

"_You can count on it." Yami waved, feeling himself pulled back into the land of the awake. _

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He came awake like a wave, sitting up in his room, finding the world still cloaked in darkness that revealed night was still lingering. It had to be the early hours of the morning. Someone was standing over his bed, a faint flickering candle held in a trembling hand. Yami blinked away sleep, trying to picture together the face that looked at him worriedly.

It was Pegasus's little wife, Rebecca, if he recalled her name correctly. The darling girl, with her tight blond curls, had a face pale white in what he guessed was fear.

"Lord Atemu?" Her soft voice broke him from his daze.

"Lady Rebecca?"

"Please...we can't linger, you must come with me, my grandfather...he wishes...he wishes to speak with the Dragon Pharaoh."

Yami choked, "how do you-."

"Please, my lord." Rebecca flustered, "I haven't much time, if I am long gone from my husband's bed he shall know."

"Alright," seeing the fright in her eyes, the tremble in her voice, Yami pulled himself out of bed, "I'll be taking my white knight with me though."

She nodded, "anything sir, just hurry, please."

Grabbing his boots Yami tugged them on before sizing the large trench coat hanging on his bed rack, he gave Bakura a wack over the head, startling the white knight from his sleep. In one swipe Bakura had a blade free from under his pillow, holding it directly at Yami's throat.

"Who and what...Yami...what the hell?"

"Get up, we're got a problem." Yami stared darkly, "hurry."

Bakura silently slid his knife away, pulling his clothing on and ducking after Yami. The white knight made no further comment as they both followed Rebecca's slim tiny form through the darkness of the Keeps lonely halls. She scurried like a feather, as quiet as humanly possible, the two knights making no sound in the darkness, moving through the shadows that enveloped them in a shroud. Reaching a door Rebecca inserted a key, unlocking it and pushing the door open gently. She nodded towards Yami.

Pulling out his sword Yami slipped into the warmth of the room, glancing around to find it was one of the few visitor rooms amongst the higher levels of the Keep. A fire was crackling within a fire-place to the side of one wall and beside it within a large arm-chair the old monk was seated, his weak body limp within the confines of the chair.

Seeing no threat Yami re-sheathed his blade and stood to let Bakura in.

Rebecca scurried up to her grandfather, giving him a small shake.

"Grandpa? Grandpa? I brought the Dragon Pharaoh and the Thief."

The old man stirred, blinking and glancing around, his hollow eyes resting upon Yami as the young knight slowly approached, inclining his head in honour.

"Thank you, Becky dear." The monk whispered, "you...you had better run along now, love."

Yami watched as the pretty girl quickly left and he felt a prang of concern for her. He could only hope Pegasus was kind towards the lovely young thing and didn't abuse her mentally or physically, especially after losing the fight the latter day.

Rubbing his sweaty hands together Yami carefully approached the old weak monk, kneeling at the chair.

"Hello Arthur, you wanted to see me." Yami offered softly. The old man's grey gaze looked around for a moment as if he was trying to find the voice that spoke.

"Arthur...sir? Over here." Yami tried again and finally the weary monk looked down at him, giving a smile.

"Hello Pharaoh."

Yami smiled, "hello sir, I'm here? You wished to speak to me...?"

"This guy is not lucid, Temmy." Bakura whispered. Yami ignored the white knight.

"Do you know anything about my past as a Pharaoh, Arthur...please, if you do-."

The old monk glanced up, his eyes widening suddenly and he grasped his aged, worn hands to his chest.

"Your the Pharaoh...yes...yes...you are aren't you. Atemu, I came to see you."

"I know you did Arthur, thank you...what do you need to tell me Arthur."

"You need to...to...remember..." Arthur glanced around in fear for a moment, "he...he who shall destroy everything." The frightened old man held out his hands. Yami took the frail fingers, kneeling beside the monk, his eyes lingering in sadness for the mind that was obviously gone, yet what did remain was suffering through visions and memories.

"What's he mean?" Bakura whispered, "everything is already destroyed?"

Yami glanced to his friend, shaking his head.

"The Shadow." Arthur's wild eyes sought Bakura's, "he who consumed Atlantis, who scattered the Items."

"The Items...Yugi...wait, Arthur...are you talking about Zorc-."

"Speak not his name!"

Yami winced, the memory of the shadow beast slipping into his mind, how his name had been a curse. That was one fact he should have recalled. "Sorry...sorry..."

Bending forward Arthur blinked, clarity touching his face for a moment, as if a veil was lifted and he smiled, grasping Yami's face between his hands, stroking the rough beginnings of a beard the young man hadn't bothered to shave.

"It's alright, young Pharaoh, you've only just awakened...he knows you are weakest now, so you must be strong! The Shadow is coming for you, he's almost won and you are his last enemy...don't let him come. The great beast, the Dragon of War."

Yami gulped back salvia, liking the old monk's words less and less. "Arthur...please...is...is Heba in danger?"

The old man tipped his head back, tears beginning to dribble down his cheeks, pooling into droplets upon his chin. "Where is your dragon, oh king of old? Where is your god of the sun? Where, oh Thief, is your river of water, the bringer of rain and winter."

"What the heck?" Bakura shuttered, "I'm the Thief right...the water...the waters my dragon, I know that much from Seto's fiddling with my brain. Temmy, what's going on?"

"I...I don't know..." The young heir struggled to speak.

"The Shadow shall come, spreader of such pain, the curser of crystals."

Yami winced as his shoulders where suddenly sized in a vice grip, Arthurs eyes stared at him, wide and crazed, "find he who has two shadows...and know him you shall. He'll creep up inside you, consume you, eat you...you need fire, bring the fire...only fire can piece the darkest of shadows."

"Do you mean Heba, Arthur? Do you mean my dragon?" Yami whispered.

"Where is your dragon, oh king of old...why have you no dragon..." Arthur began to sob and Yami felt the body in his arms go limp, collapsing onto his shoulder, the thin, sick limbs trembling.

"This guy is off his rocket, Temmy." Bakura twirled his finger around his ear. "More than we are for believing all this crud. He's got radiation poisoning..."

"Maybe so..." Yami looked towards the fire, holding the old man tightly as he wept in lonely, agonising sobs, "but that doesn't mean what he says is not truth...I have to tell Yugi, I have too..."

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_Thank you to everyone who is reading this story, even with the mistakes. I hope, at least, that you'll enjoy it for just being a good read and a story._

_I'm off to bed._

_Much hugs, warm regards to you all._

_T.W.W_


	7. THC Book 1 Chapter 6

The Hedingham Chronicles

Book 1: Walk of Fire

By: T.W.W

_**Chapter Six: Shadows that Burn**_

Tucking the new shirt over Sol's head Yugi pulled it down, watching as the child's head popped out. The boy giggled as his parent added a tiny leather vest to the outfit, strapping a dagger around his waist.

"There you go, see, I told you that I'd find you some new clothes yesterday and tada! I did!" Yugi brushed back his blond fringe, admiring his work. Pretty good considering Sol's tiny size and what had been available in the ruined town's small shops.

"What a handsome boy you are."

Sol bit his lips, "Am I really Dad?"

"Sure you are, real heart stopper you'll be. Just make sure you save up that first kiss for someone pretty." Yugi pinched the boy's cheek, sanding to his feet and listening to the echoing thumps of someone rapping their knuckles over the surface of the large iron door. Reaching for his own utility belt he buckled it around his thin hips, feeling the comfortable weight of his weapons back where they belonged. He paused at the door and gave a shout.

"We're fine Aang, you can open the door."

Stepping aside he felt Sol grip his legs, peering around as the door ground slowly open, revealing the young smiling monk full of good morning cheer. "Good morning sir."

"Morning Aang." Yugi gave a wave.

"Did you sleep well, sir?"

"Very well, thank you. The best sleep I've had in a long time. The bed was lovely. We're very grateful for your hospitality." Yugi turned aside, allowing the youth into the travellers courters.

Sol bounced. "Hi Aang!"

Aang bent down, patting the lads head covered with his yellow trademark bandanna, "morning Solomon. You're looking fine; I can actually see your cute face. Someone scrubbed you hard."

"Yup," Sol giggled, "Daddy washed me until I was all red and raw."

Yugi winked, "that's what Dad's are for. The others are just getting ready Aang. Is there anything you'd like us to do in repayment for the sanctuary?"

"My Master will talk to you about such things I am sure." Aang bowed, "he's ready to see you."

Yugi nodded, "Just a tick. I'll round up the others then."

Shifting Yugi moved to the entrances of the courters, pausing at Joey's and pushing the door open and peering in.

Joey sat upon his bed, pulling on his gloves.

"You ready Joey; we're seeing the head Monk man." Yugi motioned out the door.

Joey stood from his bed.

"Sure Yug."

"You alright?" Yugi stopped the tall blond with a hand to his hard chest, glancing upwards at the man, noticing the weary expression he held that was very non-Joey like. Joey was sanguine and bright, like the more loving, bouncy dog. Yet this Joey almost looked ill.

The American brushed a hand through his tussles of long hair, smiling down at his little friend and giving him a pat on the head.

"Fine Yug. Just got an odd feeling about today, you know...old gut saying something about something in particular."

"Maybe you're just overly hungry." Yugi offered in jest.

"Maybe yer right!"

"Come on." Yugi kicked him in the backside, "move it."

Rounding up to a closed door Yugi pounded a fist upon the metal. "MALIK, KALA, we're leaving, you've got three seconds before I burst in-." The door swung open and Malik shoved past, tugging on his trench coat. Kala was giggling as he pulled her with him.

Yugi threw up his arms, "I don't want to know." He spun, encountering Ryou as the healer bumped smartly into him.

Aang watched them all gather with a cheerful laugh upon his features.

"You're an odd lot of travellers, you know...don't meet many travellers who are sticking together."

"We're a family." Sol threw up an arm, "and families stick together!"

"Right you are," Aang turned, slipping out the door, "if you'd all follow me please, my Master is waiting. If he passes you for sanctuary then you'll be welcome to stay for the length of time you sanctuary will last. Your jobs and requirements will be made clear to you after that."

"Cool," Malik tucked an arm around Kala's waist.

Yugi raised an eyebrow, glancing back to his friend in thought before shifting his attention to the surroundings they passed through. The great underground cavern sparkled with the ever present lights igniting the darkness, deep cauldrons burning always through the murkiness. Something was nibbling at his mind, a feeling that he couldn't shake, rising from the gold around his neck, almost as if a voice was whispering softly through the ancient metal.

Whispering a warning.

One quick glance in Ryou's direction told him his white haired friend was sensing the same sensation and though Malik was putting on a cheerful face for his girl-friend Yugi could note easily the slight change in the Egyptian man's brow that spoke of his unease.

It wasn't where they were, a Monastery was still one of the few places left in the world where humans where safe, and it wasn't the people surrounding them with cheer and good will.

It was out there.

Waiting.

Yugi scooped Sol up into his arms, ignoring the boy's protests at being carried. Yugi felt nothing in that moment but his instinct to protect what was his flaring up from within.

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The night had been a practically bad one. After they'd returned from seeing the crazed old man Alfred, the poor monk lost in a world bygone, Yami had dragged Bakura down into the depths of the dungeons, burst into Seto's lair and demanded the Wizard do whatever mumbo jumbo he'd done on him to their resident White Knight.

Bakura, to say the least, and not been amused but had complied. After all, one did not simply ignore Lor Atemu Amir when his mood was a furious rage. If he said jump, then jump was usually what was required lest heads rolled.

Come the break of morning, Bakura had undergone three trials of Seto's probing into his mind. He had the genetic marker, that much was obvious but the unlocking of his memories was proving a far more difficult adventure.

Something was blocking the probing. Almost like a cloak had smothered itself of Bakura's mind. Well, the man had always been a little dense, if not off the rocket mentally, but this was simply downright frustrating for all three of them.

Thankfully a morning of jousting and knocking knights off horses had loosened Bakura's tensed emotions yet Yami felt nothing of the release of wild, pent up frustrations.

The pent up anger had lead him to his father's office, in the break between tournament fun, when the children took the stage and play fought their little adventures with sticks and wooden shields.

Usually he would have been right in the middle of it with the young boys, but not today. No, not today.

"Father please!" Yami slammed his hands down upon the desk, the vibrations causing a glass to jump. Atum frowned darkly at his son from across his large wooden desk, noticing the youth was appearing bedraggled and weary from the fights of the morning's festivities. Yet it was not that which worried the Earl suddenly, it was the slightly wild gaze in the blood red eyes of his son that caused him to step back for a moment. He calmed his frustration at the young man's actions and rose slowly to his feet.

"Atemu, you are being unreasonable. I cannot call off the festival on some mad old man's mumbled words."

"History is repeating itself," Yami paced across the room, gritting his teeth, "my memories are awakened, the Items given to their dragons...the power of the sunken city shall rise again." The young knight threw his hand into the air, turning to face his father once more as the man darkly frowned in his direction. "The Shadow is coming."

Atum placed a hand over his forehead. "My son, we are in a difficult time right now, people look up to us for support and safety. Hedingham is a rock, you are a rock and if people start seeing the rock being shaken then they will fear and there will be a riot-."

"NO! Father!" Yami snapped, "Don't you hear me, you're the one who set me on this path in the first place you...you...you incompetent man! You told me I was a Pharaoh and here I am, standing here, telling you something is bloody wrong with everything and you're asking me shut the hell up! I am not going to stand here and be told what to do by you." Pointing Yami snarled, "you wanted me to awake my memories and I am telling you, right now, Father, that we have got a problem. We're running on two Power Cores and there is some form of dark energy out there that can counter-act Seto's crystals."

"My son, I understand this but we do not wish to cause a panic to the people. They will run and be killed outside of our shields;"

"What if they both fail Father, then what...I cannot protect three hundred people plus our community as well from the dragons who'll smell us out or the Raiders. Our shields are going to fail!" Yami paced, "why are you being so stubborn Father. You need to call off the festivities and tell everyone to go home, now, while they have a chance."

"All because you found a new kind of dragon toxin and heard an old man mutter about shadows. Atemu, we know hardly anything about the dragons...so yes, we are going to be discovering things all the time and Seto's Cores have always been unstable. None of this is cause for alarm...you are over reacting because you're just beginning to understand your role in everything."

Atum reached out, placing his hands heavily upon Yami's shoulders and squeezing them, "You need to slow down and just concentrate on the tournament. You'll see that everything will be fine. You're feeling strange, disorientated and confused at the moment, which is all natural for someone who's just discovered they're part of a larger plan at work-."

"Then let me be who I am supposed to be and listen to me when I tell you that we are all in danger." Yami gritted his teeth, "please Father, I am begging you...call it all off-."

"I can't do that my son, you know what that'll do to the communities around us, we are a rock in this unstable time-."

"That's hardly the point, milord." Bakura's dark voice spoke up, the white knight rising from his spot against a wall, "we're trying to stop an uprising and you're not letting us do our job to protect this community. Are you so frightened-."

"Bakura," Yami glanced towards his friend, "enough."

The man shrugged, leaning back against his spot of wall, "Fine. Have a father son tussle for all I care but this isn't going to get us anywhere. He's as stubborn as you are."

Atum crossed his arms over his broad chest, "Is this just a way to stop yourself having to fight Pegasus Atemu, because that is highly immature of you."

"What?" Yami snapped, "how could you think I'd fear a man three times my age!? I am a Pharaoh, beyond that actually, I am the Dragon King. The only thing I fear is losing my people, Father, which will happen if you don't listen to me."

"That is enough Atemu Amir," Atum held up a hand, silencing his son with a stern glare, "you may carry the genetic memory of a long dead Pharaoh but you are still my son and you are still under my authority as a Knight of Hedingham and therefore I am ordering you to go back out there and speak no more of this folly. People are beginning to wonder what on earth is wrong with you. I thought that by freeing your memories you would better understand your place in the world, that you would use your abilities and strengths to uphold our community but I guess I was wrong."

Yami thinned his lips, glaring through his fringe. He made to speak but twisted, deciding against it from the dark expression across his father's features. Turning away Yami shrugged his shoulders in Bakura direction, indicating to his friend that the conversation was over.

The young heir made to move one foot up, yet as the limb came down Yami felt the slice of pain burn through his limbs and he staggered.

Gasping as he grabbed his chest the young knight hit the floor. His cry cut through the clear weather outside, causing heads below to turn sharply at the sound. He landed hard on his shoulder, curling up into a ball, his fingers clawing at his chest.

Atum ran, grabbing him and pulling him upright in a frantic rush.

"Atemu?" He gasped, "what is it-"

Bakura pulled the Earl away, "No, no...it's his dragon." The white knight hissed, feeling Yami's chest, "something's wrong with Heba." The white knight spoke without a single blink to his eyes, wondering how the name had slipped so easily from his lips when his mind had been refusing to recall any detail of his genetic life in the past. Gathering the much smaller man into his arms Bakura brushed past Atum, "we gotta get him to sleep...if he's asleep, he won't feel the pain. Come on old man, I've done this before with him...before...a long time ago I think..."

Atum nodded, gathering up his long gown and shoving open the door, worry slipping over his placid features, "Isis will know what to do, this way."

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Aang happily skipped along the knotted rope bridge, looking as though he was barely touching the surface of the wooden planks between them and mid-air below into the inner workings of the Monastery. Sol followed his example and Yugi watched the boy carefully, making perfectly sure his son wasn't going to fall flat and hurt himself worse than he already was over scrapped knees, twisted ankles and scarred hands.

"My Master," Aang called back from the edge of the hallway leading up to the Church entrance of the world below, "is working in the gardens." The young monk took a bag from a rack, slinging it around his waist. "If you'd kindly follow me, it's a beautiful day outdoors and we wouldn't want to miss the strawberry picking now would we?"

Sol squealed in delight, jumping up and down. "Strawberries! I want a strawberry!"

Yugi clasped the boy under the shoulders, hoisting him high onto his back, "then let's go hunting for the big, fat, juiciest strawberry there is!"

Aang was right; the day outside of the underground world was beautiful. Not an ash cloud in sight across the pristine blue sky. Yugi breathed in the fresh, untainted air, fresh of toxin's from the natural recycling of the forests trees that had consumed the town and surrounding hill sides. Aang popped up beside atop the church stairs, grinning childishly.

"Lovely isn't it?"

"Indeed..." Yugi nodded, "it is nice to see the clear blue sky again."

"Air is an amazing element." Aang shrugged, "Wind can clear the darkest of clouds." The young monk hopped down the stairs, waving to the group, "come on, my Master is this way."

The youthful monk, full of jumping beans as he skipped along the garden path, took them on a merry go round through the lush kept garden patches. A few monks, both young and old, where scattered across the areas, harvesting what they could. Yugi felt a twang of jealously for a brief moment, knowing that if Alfred's castle hadn't been in the toxic waste lands of the dragons he'd of had a better chance at setting up such gardens for his own communities. Yet you had to have good de-scenting equipment for such gardens and they had never had such great equipment.

Amongst a patch of bountiful strawberry bushes Aang happily leapt over each row as if gravity had no control over him. He landed beside a bent over figure near a shading tree who was plucking at a bush, muttering something under his breath.

Yugi settled Sol down upon the moist ground, the boy already sucking on a strawberry with great delight across his features. Joey ruffled the boy's mop of hair and Yugi chuckled at the blond American, who had helped himself to the bushes also. Aang hadn't seemed to mind that he did, therefore it was no point telling the man off for having a big gut.

"Master." Aang tapped the old man over the shoulder, "Master, the visitors are here."

For a moment it didn't appear that the man heard anything so they waited as he continued to mutter, picking strawberries with gloved hands.

"Don't go too far Solomon." Kala called out, pointing at the boy. Yugi glanced around, noticing the child had begun to sneak away. The young man nodded in agreement to Kala.

"Listen to your Aunt, Solomon Motou, don't you dare go too far. You stay in the area of the garden!"

"Okay Dad." Sol called out before vanishing into the garden hedges.

"Ah, little boy's will always be little boys, no matter the era we live within." The aged monk finally stood from his crouching position beside the strawberry patch. He rubbed his dirtied gloved hands together, glancing towards Yugi. He slid off a glove and held out a crippled set of fingers.

Yugi took it, giving a warm smile, not forced for once.

"Hello sir, you have a lovely place here. Ah...I'm Yugi Motou, I was the resident Dragon Slayer of Lord Alfred Bakura's Castle."

"I know," the aged monk chuckled, "your name, your Grandfather was a good, honest man."

Yugi paused from shaking the offered hand, "Pardon? You knew my Grandfather?"

"Indeed, my boy, I had the great honour of knowing him quite well. My name is Alexander Brisbane; I was, before the Tribulation, a Doctor of Archaeology."

Yugi gazed at him flatly, "Let me guess," he managed to whisper in a weak tone, "he convinced you dragons existed."

"Oh," Alexander slipped off his wide brimmed hat, revealing his weary, aged features crowned with greying hair that would have once of been a beautiful mop of gold waves, "he didn't just convince me to believe they existed, he convinced me to believe he was the son of one and had lived since the time of Atlantis..."

"Get outta here." Joey blurted out suddenly, "Dude...Yug man, where do these old guys get their yabber from?!"

Yugi barked a laugh, "I know...funny isn't it."

Alexander smirked and Yugi raised an eyebrow out the monks odd expression of wiry mirth. It was hardly the king of expression he'd expected to see upon the face of a holy man. Reaching out hand, wrinkled with age and worn with calluses of hard labour Alexander pressed it to Yugi's shoulder, squeezing it with a firm grip.

"Tell me, young Yugi Motou, do you know the story of the Pendragon?"

"Do you mean King Arthur?" Ryou jumped in suddenly.

Alexander glanced his way and smiled, giving a small nod.

"Son of a Dragon..." Malik whispered, his hand snaking its way to his Item across his shoulder blades, the rod like sword seeming to gleam at the nearness of his touch to its golden surface.

"Indeed." Aang piped up, pulling out a scroll from a bag slung around his waist and passing it to his Master.

Curiously Yugi stepped slightly forward as the aged monk unrolled the scroll, revealing the contents to them. "So...this is proof of what?" Yugi mused at the writings and the painted image of a youthful figure grasping a sword high to the air.

"Your Grandfather and I, Yugi Motou, searched England. Oh, he knew where everything was...he showed me the most amazing things...how? Because he was King Arthur, Son of a Dragon, the immortal child of Atlantis. The sword of Excalibur was lost to history and time after he let the power to fade into history, to wander time until the world needed the Pharaoh once more. He scattered the Items you bear, the Holy Grail of Justice, the Rod of War, the Ring of Healing, the Pyramid of Power, the Key of Knowledge, the Seer's Necklace and the Eye of Truth. I fear some have been destroyed, but you three hold those that were found..." He eyed Ryou, Malik and Yugi for a stern moment.

Yugi sighed, "I didn't come here to listen to more stories, I came here to ask for sanctuary."

"Ah..." Alexander chuckled, "you will not find sanctuary here, my young lord."

Gripping his hands into fists Yugi closed his eyes, "then I guess we're leaving."

"Yugi!" Malik snapped, "just let the man talk alright, this could be important. Alfred told us our path had something to do with the Items my father and my people guarded...what if we hold the key to stopping the dragons for good."

"Then," Yugi spun on the Egyptian, glaring darkly through his loose fringe, "I ask you why the hell we didn't do something before the bloody end of the freaking world!"

Alexander shook his head, "Because the world needed to end for the Pharaoh's Court to rise from the ashes."

"Shut the hell up!" Yugi pointed his pistol at the aged monk, blinking back tears, "Please...just shut up..."

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Sol hunted in the manner Yugi had always taught him. It came with being small, the uncanny ability to use his slim build and tiny stature to his advantage. He could run lightly over the moist ground without barely leaving a foot-print. Sometimes it even felt as though he was as light as a feather, that once, he'd known how to do magic as though it was a simple flick of the wrists.

But he would never tell Dad that, he would never tell him he imagined a world where magic was normal, and where the crystal he found that dangled around his neck was really an ancient device that channelled the energy of the turning earth into his body.

No, it was best Dad never knew about it all, he had too much to worry about as it was.

Sol pouted, pausing from his hunting through the garden verges. "I wish the Pharaoh would come and make Dad happy, take away all his worries...or at least give him less to worry about." The boy sniffed, rubbing the sleeve of his long shirt over his nose and licking at the mucus that continued to dribble down his nose.

He continued to waddle his way through the garden, smiling at the flowers and listening to the wild-life. It was all new, never had he seen such a place before. All he'd never witness where the ruins of the waste-lands, he couldn't even remember what London had been like when Dad had found him in the rumble of a collapsed building. Dad had said, he'd been born out of the ashes just for him.

Sol grinned and began to skip, "born out of the ashes! I'm a phoenix....whoosh! Whoosh!" His foot caught on a rock, causing him to tumble and roll. With a giggle he flipped and let himself tumble down the small side of a mound, landing in a heap of arms and legs. Untangling himself Sol flopped on the grass, staring around at the clear sky, untainted by acidic clouds like the waste-lands. All the horror, the death and the mutant scary Raiders seemed so far away in this place.

"But the Pharaoh isn't here." Sol whispered, "Dad is incomplete."

He made to get up but something caught his eye from his low angle upon the ground. Through a brush he spied something odd, a rock like thing. The sun hit in rather directly, casting what appeared to be two shadows.

Not one shadow like everything else around him.

"It has two shadows..." Sol whispered, crawling under the bush and scrambling towards the shiny large object imbedded into the moist earth, "why would it have two shadows if there is no light to cause another." He tipped his head in confusion, curling his legs and knees around the smooth rounded rock, or at least, what he was sure looked and felt like a rock. The moment he pressed his ear to it he gasped, jerking backwards in fright at the sound of a soft, gentle beating heart coming from within.

His eyes danced in delight and he wrapped himself around it once again, pressing his ear to the cool surface. The sound was a thud, thud, swoosh that he could feel against his cheek, it wasn't just as sound and the rock wasn't just a rock.

It was alive.

Attacking the ground it was half buried within Sol dug it out, ignoring the fact that he was getting his new clothes dirty and his hands mucky. Surely his Dad would want to see the strange alive rock. The crystal dangling freely around his neck, tied there by a strap of leather, clipped against the rocks surface, causing a shattering of sparks to cluster over the hardened surface. Sol squeaked, flopping back onto the ground and rolling around in fright.

"Whoa..." He held out his hands, covering his eyes from the flaring of light. It faded away and Sol peaked around his hands.

"It's a...dragon egg." The boy whispered in awe, "but...they're supposed to be much bigger." He squeaked at the unfairness of it all. From the stories he'd heard about, the tales bards had sung and even from what his Dad had told him, dragon eggs were supposed to be way above his head. This one he could carry, albeit with some difficulty, but it was small enough for him to lift.

And still, it had two shadows.

"Maybe it's a mini-dragon!" His grin widened. "A mini-dragon! Cool!" Grabbing the egg he heaved on it, tugging it under his shirt and waddling his way back through the garden. Unaware, he now had two shadows.

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Alexander smiled at the gun in his face. "You're just like your Grandfather, you know that Yugi. He was so impulsive, so wild, so exciting. I felt alive around him, and around you, I could live for centuries being around you and the energy you cluster around yourself like fire." The old monk threw the scroll he held to Ryou, the young lord catching it quickly and blinking in confusion at the document.

Slowly Yugi lowered his gun, his expression shifting as his muscles relaxed and he placed the pistol back into its hoister around his thin waist.

His tone remained sharp and strained. "You're telling me my grandfather convinced you that he was the son of a dragon, King Arthur...you know, I finally realise why he was the laughing stock of the archaeologist community."

"Not just a dragon, Yugi Motou, a humanoid dragon, yes indeed." The monk chuckled, picking up his basket of strawberries and offering them to the small group around him.

"A humanoid dragon..." Yugi rolled his eyes, "this just keeps getting better and better!"

"Soul to Red eyes." Malik suddenly spoke up, "so when the dragons gave the humans their eyes the humans in turn gave the dragons their human souls making them part human?! You mean they actually formed human bodies!? Whoa...no way!? I mean...that'd totally make sense of all the ancient scriptures I learnt as a child."

"Humanoid, not fully human..." The monk shrugged his shoulders, "at least, that is what Solomon would say. Those dragons who where males could form male bodies, those who were female could form female but the Ancient Ones...no...they were neither human nor dragon at any one time, nor male or female. They were simply the Ancient Ones. My did Solomon have good stories."

"And that," Yugi pointed, "is what they were, stories. I would fall asleep to his stories."

Aang once again managed to interject, giving the impression of slight frustration at the conversation. "In all myth there is an element of fact."

"You know, I will believe there is a Creator but I won't believe in humanoid dragons and that my grandfather was one-."

With a devilish smirk the monk glanced up, peering through grey hair fallen over brushy eyebrows, "I never said he was."

"Shut up." Yugi snorted, "if this is the kind of hogwash I have to listen to whenever I reveal myself to someone then I'm changing my damned name."

"DAD!" Sol's high pitched voice called out through the garden.

Yugi twisted around, noticing his little boy running with a rather uncomfortable looking waddle, towards them. Behind him Yugi heard both Aang and Alexander give sharp intakes of breaths. It was in that split moment that Yugi noticed the split shadows trailing along behind Sol. One was normal yet the other had taken on the revolting form of something hideous, something that was about to attack his precious child.

Malik shouted, grabbing the Rod over his shoulder, the Item swelling in a gold rush to brim into a long blade but it was not the Egyptian that Yugi saw make a move.

Instead it was Aang who ran forward. The young monk shouted, throwing out what looked like a wave of wind from his hands, blowing Sol back a pace. Instead of the boy being hauled across the garden as everything rushed from the gust, a swell of shadows was cast into a tree, attaching itself there. A high pitched screech echoed across the town like a call to arms.

Yugi felt a shiver run down his spine, his mind ticking, as if he'd heard that shriek before yet could not place it.

"SOL!" Kala called out, "come here!"

Yugi frown as the boy ran up to them, holding something under his shirt.

"Dad, what's going on?"

"You had two shadows." Aang whispered, "he's here, Master he's here." The young monk twirled around in expert grace to his elder, eyes wide.

"It is as you predicted then." Alexander shook off his robe, grabbing for a staff, "you must flee from this place Aang, with them, take them."

"Master I cannot-." A loud chiming of a bell shook the ground.

Alexanders aged face distorted in momentary concern, glancing towards the church. "May God have mercy...let this death be swift."

The Shadow burst upwards from the tree, forming blackened wings and a triangular head. A dragon shaped monster began to manifest out of the clouds of billowing smoke. It swept towards them. Aang once again threw out his hands.

Yugi felt the inverted pyramid around his neck shake as wind rushed around them, yet it did little to slow down the approaching creature.

Then suddenly the pyramid shimmered, the light from the eye in the centre bursting forth. Yugi felt his body propelled backwards as the shadow swelled out from behind another tree, almost seeming to appear out of another shadow. It smashed down onto Alexander, consuming the aged monk in a single swamping gulp. Aang screamed something yet it was not the young monk's voice Yugi caught as he pulled himself up to his feet.

Sol's cry echoed in his mind, the very sound of it almost seeming to snap an involuntary inner cord that propelled him forward. His body was responding before his mind had even realised it was Sol he was hearing through the sudden rush of commotion that swelled around them.

The shadow dragon was at least three times the size he had ever seen a female and it was not a natural beast. Formed of the sucking shadows dragged from trees and the overbearing church itself, the monster reared skyward, pulling bricks and tiles off the church building, uprooting trees as the shadows it was formed from seemed to yank on whatever they were attached too.

Yugi grabbed Sol as the boy held tightly to a rounded shiny object, pulling at it as though it was a priceless jewel. The shadows attached itself to the object, dragging the boy across the moist grass. Yugi buried his feet into the dirt, starting a tug-a-war.

"Solomon! LET GO!" He shouted through the rushing of noise all around, the cracking of trees and the shattering of the church. Screams consumed the air as the monastery below ground was dissipated and thrown into ciaos as the ground was pealed back to reveal the hidden world.

"NO!" Sol screeched through tears, "NO, NO...It can't take it, it doesn't belong to it! Daddy! Stop it, please, stop it."

Yugi struggled, holding the boy's leg in a vice grasp while unlinking a pistol from its hoister. With a twirl he pointed the weapon at the shadow beast and fired.

The shots echoed through the town.

The shadow screeched, though Yugi doubted the bullets did anything more than irritate it but it was enough to distract it from Sol and whatever the boy was holding. The lad was released, landing hard on his backside with a little squeak. Yugi watched as he rolled away, hitting an uprooted tree. The breath of the foul beast burned over his shoulders. Twisting Yugi faced the shadow creature. Its red eyes turned upon him in a burst of shadows.

In that moment Yugi sensed the memory rise like a sheet across his mind. He'd seen this horrible beast before. Somehow, within, he knew it was going to kill his son again and this time, he wouldn't let it. This time he was old enough to take command of the situation.

"NO." Yugi shouted, "you cannot take him from me again! You will leave this place." Tipping his head back Yugi released high pitched cry, having no idea where it came from, nor evening knowing if the sound was possible with a human voice-box.

The cry was answered.

The shadow creature turned around, away from the group to meet another rising dragon sweeping across the forest covered town.

"Shit, shit, shit." Joey pointed to the sky, "it's another one! Malik, we need to get the land-rover and scram!"

Malik hoisted Kala over his shoulder, turning to Ryou, "come on, we're going."

"But what about the Monastery." Ryou spluttered.

"Like we can do anything to help them, just pray." Grabbing the albino's hand Malik ran through the garden, Joey in close pursuit, tugging Aang along with him despite the monk crying for his home.

Joey glanced behind, "What about Yug-."

"He'll catch up." Malik threw back. "Just run!"

Joey winced at the sight of the new dragon fast approaching the swelling beast of shadow while it continued attacking Yugi as the slight little man protected his son. With two dragons and a falling monastery behind them, it wasn't turning out to be a good day after all.

"Hell Yug, be careful little man...my gut feeling was right after all."

The female fire-breather blasted through the shadow beast, dissipating it into thin air. Yugi wrenched around, holding up the iron sheet as fire erupted from the caverns of the dragon's mouth. Screams died away as the escaping residents of the monastery where cooked alive. The church groaned, windows shattering. Yugi rolled, cringing in pain as the female dragon tour after him. Though a female in heat was far easier to deal with than whatever horrifying shadow creature he'd just been battling. Though how or why it had come, how or why he'd called it up with his voice, he couldn't understand. He was beyond caring any longer. To hell with it all, he'd just have to save his son.

Throwing Sol forward Yugi hid the boy under a fallen beam, grabbing for the nearest candle stick he smashed the edge against a wall, shattering the gold staff into a sharp point. He twirled it expertly and turned to face the monster as it reared hind legs upwards.

A single, insane eye glared at him as she hissed and snarled, tail twirling back and forth. She was defiantly in heat from the size of her enlarged fire glands and what he had called her with had obviously been a mating cry. He guessed she wasn't too pleased with him.

Yugi gashed his teeth, growling low.

"Baby, come on baby! You know I'm a slayer, you play this game and you will die..."

With a sudden shout he ran at her.

She leapt.

They met centre on in a clash of claws and sparks of iron. Yugi smashed the pole back and forth as her jaw met the iron in cracking smacks. The vibrations shook his body with each hit. He landed, rolled and came up under, her, skinning off the scales under her belly with the edge of the candle pole. As he came up once more her claw caught his shoulder, tearing skin to bone.

Yugi screamed, spinning on his heels, sweeping his staff into her jaw at full force, a force he knew was not humanly possible and yet he could hardly care any longer. The dragon shuttered back, breaking through the fences. Yugi panted, dropping to his knees, watching as blood dribbled onto the broken floor of the caved in church.

"DAD!" Sol's little voice cried out. Through blurred vision Yugi tipped up his head, shaking it, trying to gasp out as the boy ran through the broken ruin towards him. He carried an egg, a dragon egg, a small one but an egg none the less.

Yugi held out a hand, wishing the boy the stop.

"SOL." Yugi winced as the dragons shattering broke though the sound barrier once more. Like a popping of speed she twirled flames together.

Once more Yugi felt his body move, his legs crouched like coiled springs, propelling him forward and he ran towards Sol. Sol skidded to a jerking stop and Yugi lunged for the cowering boy and the dragon egg he clutched. Without regard to his wound, or his own life, Yugi threw himself over his son, protecting him from the heated blast of the enraged female that roared over them, destroying the remainder of the garden in a single sweep of her breath.

Yugi held Sol tightly, waiting for the heat to end their lives.

Yet something inside him snapped as he lay there, like a barrier over that which he held most dear. A whispering of an unknown voice echoed in his mind, calling from a distance and yet sounding so familiar it was uncanny. It was his voice, breathing out of the pyramid, sending cool swells through his hot limbs.

_Other-me, get up, face the fire. We don't need to fear fire, We are fire. We have always been fire, for we are the first of the fire. Get up, Yugi, turn and face her, she will not fight Us._

Yugi licked his dry lips, the voice making complete sense in the fluxed moment between confusion and understanding. He stood, the flames going around him as if they ignored his very presence. Sure enough, he could see the female dragon, thrusting flames into the crackling building, her rage visible upon her scaled features.

He would have called her beautiful, frighteningly beautiful, for he was facing her now, seeing her in her glory and he couldn't find himself to be afraid or disgusted. The voice felt as though it was beside him, near him, inside of him and it swelled up, making him speak in a language that was very much not his own nor any he knew.

But apparently he did.

"Get away; tell your Elder is not pleased."

She squawked. Rearing up but backing away, her wild eyes seeming to see him for the first time. Yugi snarled, flashing fangs from his mouth, not caring that they were impossible, that they'd never been there. He screeched again and the dragon launched herself into the air, turning away, blasting fire through the monastery, yet leaving none the less.

Yugi made no time to rest. Turning he grabbed Sol and ran through the burning embers of the church and garden, ignoring the screams of those within the lower area of the collapsing monastery. He tore down the road , watching as the land-rover reared towards him and he skidded to a stop as it was spun on its wheels through the dirt.

"YUGI!" Joey screamed from the land-drover, "YUGI! RAIDERS!"

Yugi spat blood, turning slightly around in horror and confusion. From the corner of his eye he spotted the swelling mass of human bodies pouring through the town and advancing upon the burning smoulders of the monastery. A bullet tore through his shoulder as they were rained down upon like a shower. He hit the ground hard, skidding across it and landing at Malik's feet. The Egyptian grabbed him, dragging him upright.

"Yugi we have got to go."

Shoving Aang into Malik's arms Yugi pointed to the land-rover. "Get him strapped in." Fighting off the wound Yugi hoisted Sol up.

The screams of the Raiders pursued through his mind and Yugi staggered. He bent his head, sobbing bitterly as tears cut marks down his cheeks. He pressed himself against the back of the land-drover as the echoing shouts of the Raiders rattled through the town. "We might think we are better than the worst criminal, a rapist, a murderer but we are not. It is only the grace of God that stands between us and becoming them." Twirling his gun back into its hoister Yugi grabbed for Sol, ignoring the boy's cries of protest at the deaths of those who'd cared for them. With a swing he threw the boy into the land-rover and grabbed the side as Joey revved the engine, sending the tires spinning across the ash caused by the dragon's fury. They sped away, leaving the town behind, one young, weeping monk and a dragon egg extra.

Yugi bowed his head low.

Tonight he would hold Yami and cry. Surely the knight would let him weep and for once maybe he wouldn't need to be the strong protector he tried to be. Just for one night he wanted to have the freedom to cry for the world he'd watched go to ruin around him.

He turned to look at Sol, cowering under a seat, holding his dragon egg. Such a small egg. Yugi frowned at the sight of the boy, muddied, bloodied and pale white in fear. The lad hadn't let go of the egg the entire time, just what was the thing, or more importantly, what had that shadow beast been. The thing with red eyes, as red as those he'd seen from the first dragon to rise.

Closing his eyes Yugi leant them against the side of the car window, "damn it..."

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_He was in the grey garden again; the grey sky above was raining freckle of ash over the grey grass, making him the only piece of colour in the entire dream world. Yami touched his chest, recalling the pain he'd been feeling. _

_His body moved suddenly, fear gripping him in a vice at the thought of Yugi. He tore through the garden, running towards their usual meeting spot, slowing only when he spied another piece of colour in the grey, bleak world._

_Yugi._

_Yami approached the large tree._

"_You're alive." The knight whispered, staring at the curled up figure perched upon a rock. Slowly the slim limbs unfolded and Yugi leapt down, landing upon the gravel and ash, causing stones to float upward and around them. _

_Sensing a wave of relief at the sight of the beautiful young man Yami breathed a sigh of relief, then slowly his eyes settled upon the bloodied ruins of his shirt and the torn skin bound with makeshift bandages. His breath caught in his throat._

"_Yugi..."_

"_What?" The young man's voice was broken with pain, "haven't seen a bloodied wound before. Come, come, my knight in shining armour, surely thee hath seen such gore."_

_Yami stepped forward, reaching out a hand. Yugi's eyes glared darkly, surrounded with shadowed of exhaustion. He dared to reach further, finally glossing figures over the ruined skin._

_Yugi twitched but didn't back away._

"_How...who...dared do this to you?" Yami hissed suddenly, sensing a rising anger he hadn't known he'd had, memories of being a deeply possessive Pharaoh choking him and he forced them away, allowing himself to recall Yugi knew nothing of the past._

_Yugi perked up an eyebrow, "well don't you sound all huffed and puffed about something. It's not like me being wounded should bother you...we're not friends or anything, just because I share your dreams doesn't mean I share your bed." Yugi waggled a finger under the taller man's nose. _

"_Don't make fun of this Yugi," whispering hoarsely Yami shook his head, "I feel as though I've had a heart-attack...do you realise every-time you hurt, I get hurt too."_

_Yugi stared at him oddly for a moment, "you do?"_

"_Yes." Yami touched his own shoulder, "I can feel the pain you receive..."_

_Yugi was staring at him oddly. "How...why? Why would you feel my pain?"_

"_There is a long and very weary explanation to that but I feel it'd be best if I told it to you in person."_

"_No, no, no," Yugi pointed at him, "you're going to tell it to me here and right now! If you know something about all this weirdness I want to know!?" _

"_Yugi," Yami insisted, "you need to come to Hedingham Keep." _

"_I don't need to do anything." Yugi tipped his hip to one side, slapping the side with a hand._

"_Please." Yami gripped his hands, struggling for the right words, "you'll be safe with me. I'll keep you safe-."_

_Yugi barked a sarcastic laugh, "you...you," he turned, pointing, "what could you possibly offer, a community? I have seen them fall. You and your knights will fall one-day, we all do..."_

_Breathing out softly Yami walked firmly up to the young man, gripping his shoulders in a sudden movement. Yugi stayed still, only his eyes reflecting any burning emotion. _

"_You, Yugi Motou, are the most impossible person I have ever met."_

"_We're dreaming, so technically, we haven't actually met." Yugi smirked ever so slightly, his tone a sad droll._

"_Why are you so stubborn? Someone...so..." Yami glanced over him, "fragile and...and..." he picked up the young man's hands, feeling them and the scars that marred the once soft pale skin, "gentle a soul as you couldn't have been born so hardened."_

"_You think you know me so well, don't you, milord." Yugi snorted, twisting his hand in the young heir's grip, tugging him suddenly closer._

_Yami froze on the spot as a hot breath touched the skin of his ear, breathing out a soft lingering whisper, one he knew was going to haunt his every waking hour, "I saw the First that rose from slumber and he saw me. I was eight years old when I looked into those red eyes. I used to think my grandfather saved me but I know now, that alpha dragon saw me, he knew me and I knew him...he didn't kill me because he couldn't. Explain that, handsome..." The tears came and Yami felt them wet his shoulder as the small young man began to sob in a sudden release of emotions. _

_The young knight gripped the body closer, feeling it loose its ability to stand and slowly they sunk onto the grass. It was a painful thing to listen too, the cries of a strong spirit finally broken and Yami closed his eyes against the noise, sensing Yugi curl up tighter like a child. _

_Their position didn't matter, nor the length in which they remained there, Yami found he couldn't care. Nothing seemed to enter into his mind, not the horrors of his own day, fighting with his father, trying to understand his past and how fearful he was of the approaching darkness doomed upon him. For in Yugi's weeping, he could feel his own soul cry, as though for once, their split soul was joined in mourning._

"_Yugi...?" Yami whispered, sensing a slow change slipping over the body in his arms, it was coming back to life._

"_What?" Yugi slurred weakly._

"_How badly are you hurt?"  
"Bullet wound I think, through my shoulder, and a damned female dragon took a freaking good swipe at me before I copped her a good one across the jaw...but it doesn't matter-."_

"_It matters to me Yugi-."_

"_You don't get it," Yugi pulled himself up, "the whole Monastery was destroyed...it was...this...gosh, I don't even know if it was a dragon! It was horrible." Shaking his head Yugi bit his lips, "I'd never seen something like it, it came in like a shadow and shattered the church, destroying the de-scenting equipment. Then the Raiders came as if they were expecting it to happen...they were ready for battle. Raiders aren't that organised...We...we barely got out. It was like it was our fault." _

_Yami gripped Yugi's cheeks, "it wasn't your fault Yugi."_

"_For all I know it could have been, that thing...that...horrible...horrible beast had red eyes Yami and it looked at me! Maybe it was that dragon...that dragon, the first one. What if-."_

"_Yugi!" Shaking Yugi Yami forced the young man to stare upward at him and Yugi shuttered. "You listen to me, you did what you could, I know you would have saved everyone if you could have but you need to think about those you love right now. They are who you protect...maybe saving what is just in front of you isn't enough but right now its all you can do." The young knight bent forward, kissing away the salty tears. "Now let me see your wounds-."_

"_Heck no!" Yugi snapped, glaring through his puffed eye, "you ain't looking at anything and it's not as if you can do anything while we're...here...oh you..."_

_Yami smirked as he held out the medical pack, "my friend Bakura knows things Yugi, he knows I take things to bed and that when I wake up they're not with me. If I collapse in agony, he'd figure it's you...so let me do my job and try to tend to your wounds."_

_Glowering through his fringe Yugi puffed out his cheeks, "fine." With a frustrated grunt he eased off his leather jacket, pulling aside his weapon belts and utility pouches. Yami flinched slightly as pale skin was exposed and he couldn't help but stare at the tortured flesh._

"_My gosh Yugi..." Yami whispered, kneeling down beside the young man, gazing at the clean bullet wound. "Why aren't you screaming?"_

"_Gee...I don't know, high pain threshold." Yugi blew back his fringe, wincing as Yami pulled out thin needles and thread. "Or in maybe in this dream world of ours, I don't feel pain."_

_Yami shook his head, "look at you, where haven't you been hurt." The knight carefully cleaned the wound, pouring cool water over Yugi's shoulder, causing the youth to flinch and twist at the sensation. The knight brushed a hand over the smooth surface of a scar, lining the pale skin of Yugi's back, feeling both the bone and muscle under the ruined flesh._

"_You think this is something?" Yugi raised an eyebrow, "you should see the one on my leg." He pointed up the middle of his thigh and up his groin. "I had a dragon slice my muscle through to the bone. Ryou thought he'd lose me that time. I was seventeen." The young man gazed sadly to the horizon, "t'was during our trip to London...when I found Solomon. I was kind of a wild kid until I found Sol, I mellowed a bit, you know...parent-hood and all."_

_Yami glanced up from his work, "It'll see it one day. I'll see all your scars."_

"_Really," Yugi shifted the shoulder the knight worked on, scrunching up his nose as a bandage was tightly bound over the washed skin, "what makes you think I'll show you."_

_Yami chuckled, "I know things."_

"_You think this is going to work?" Yugi twitched again, blinking when Yami's knee held him down, the larger man's weight stemming from his heavy set muscles, so though being shorter than average Yugi was sure he maintained a normal weight for a warrior. _

"_I'll wake up with all my wounds prettily bound by a knight?"_

_Finishing his work Yami eased his knee away. "Well, you take back what I give you, no reason you won't take back what's on you."_

"_So..." Yugi carefully lifted himself into a sitting position, testing the shoulder, wincing in pain, "if I hugged you tight enough, think you'd come with me?"_

_Yami sat back on his bent knees, wrapping up the unused bandages, his brow furrowing in thought. "I...don't know...but...I'm needed here right now-." A finger was pressed to his lips and Yugi smiled weakly as the knight gave the impression of blushing just slightly. _

"_I'm just thinking aloud, handsome." _

_Yami nodded, chuckling. "Right."_

"_Anyway," Yugi glanced over the knight, "how would I explain you to the others! You're all...me but bigger and manly."_

"_I'll try to take that as a compliment." Drily Yami rolled his eyes._

"_You should," playfully shoving a foot into the knights face Yugi poked him with a toe, "I don't give them very often." With a heave the young man stood up, glancing around wearily and finding his shirt, pulling the blood stained item of clothing back over his thin chest. _

_Yami watched him, wondering just how the young man considered himself to be human when it was so plainly obvious, staring at him in the odd grey light, that he was more than human. His limbs to slim, to otherworldly to be anything other than a mythical creature of ancient, distant legends, then maybe he had lived his life in such a way he'd never bothered considering he wasn't human._

"_You call me handsome, isn't that a compliment?"_

_Yugi propped hands on his hips, "bingo, bright eyes."_

_Yami raised his eyebrows, "So I'm handsome?"_

"_I wouldn't say it if I didn't think it. Chaps like you aren't a dime in a dozen, and I ain't ashamed to say it, cause truth is a healing balm to ones cracked soul. Your hansome-ness-ness doesn't come from your looks Yami." Snorting and offering the knight a hand Yugi yanked the taller up from the ground and Yami slung the medical kit around Yugi's waist, noticing the young man didn't seem to protest the giving of the gift._

"_Alright...where does it come from?" Yami inquired softly._

_Yugi slid a hand up, patting the knights chest, "here." He whispered. "You've actually almost managed to convince me to trust you..."_

"_Almost?" Yami frowned, "you are coming to Hedingham Yugi...you need to, its not safe out there...look...look at you! Think of your loved ones-."_

"_I am thinking of them...and I can't just ask them to trust me if I don't trust you as being who you are." Yugi waved a hand._

_Yami gritted his teeth and stepped closer to the young man, pressing him hard against the tree's surface behind them. Yugi's firm glare only increased, his expression daring to become a playful smirk, as if seeing the knight before him ruffled was a delightful vision._

"_Why don't you trust me?" Yami whispered, touching his nose to Yugi's._

"_Because I don't trust anyone." The young man murmured, not even flinching. "Not even you, handsome."_

"_Don't you think there is something between us, can't you feel how much I care for you? Yugi, if I could leave Hedingham to find you I would, right now, I would run away and find you-."_

"_But you won't." Yugi breathed out and Yami shivered as hands where snaked around his neck and Yugi's slim body manipulated around him until he was the one against the trees hard surface, glaring darkly at his smaller counter-part. "You won't Yami, because you are bound to protect your people and that is what makes you trustworthy, that is what makes you handsome, why people would be drawn to you and your charm..." _

_Yugi's shoulders twitched and Yami breathed out the breath he'd been holding, noticing Yugi's concentration to their conversation had been averted elsewhere._

"_What is it?" The heir weakly spoke aloud._

"_Sol's not beside me...shoot..." Yugi shoved him aside, "damn that little boy and his bloody dragon egg, I am going to...freaking...shoot something when I wake up!"_

_Holding out a hand to stall him Yami called aloud, "Yugi! Wait, I have to tell you something-."_

"_Not right now Atemu Amir, I have to go and find my son and his dragon egg."_

"_YUGI, this is important!"_

"_So is my son, you know, I bet he's gone to pee without me. I've told him time and time again he can't do that! There is, like...eight-billions things that could happen while you're going to the freaking loo!"_

"_Please." Yami ran after him, "Yugi! Please!" He stopped, knowing he was too late to stall his look-alike. Cursing under his breath Yami swung a fist around._

"_He's going to kill me when I tell him...why...can't I tell him. He needs to know, he's in danger. Yugi, please...I don't want to lose you again. Zorc knows who you are..." The knight sunk to his knees, "and he's watching me..."_

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*gasp* And so...Zorc is back...who saw that? Yeah, I'm sure you did :P

Thanks for reading, leave a review if you have the time. They make my day (or night).

Hugs, blessings.

Keep well everyone.

T.W.W


	8. THC Book 1 Chapter 7

_I don't really have much to say. Just the same old so...yeah..._

_Please enjoy, despite everything. _

_Many hugs *tender ones, since I'm sore tonight*_

_Hope you can manage to enjoy the story._

_Cheers._

**The Hedingham Chronicles**

**Book 1: Walk of Fire**

**By: T.W.W**

**Chapter 7: Beyond Death**

Serenity brushed sweat from his forehead with a soft cloth and Yami breathed out wearily, glancing at the pretty young woman. Tristan's wife of two years held the airs and grace not usually equated with the women of their new era. Indeed, she was a true lady of the courts, with her plain simple blue dress highlighting the curvatures of her frame in the new dawn light. She was always poised and gentle in speech, never had he heard her shout but her temper was instead silent and wrathful through her eyes that could rage a storm.

"Hey." Yami whispered weakly, feeling his lips crack, "is it morning?"

Serenity nodded, easing her hands under his back and carefully pushing him upright. Yami hissed in pain, touching his chest, the jabbing agony burned from his shoulder. He wondered for a moment if he was feeling this bad, just how awful Yugi suffered. Through it all the young man went on. Someday he would push his slim little body too far. Yami gritted his teeth at the thought. He had to get Yugi to Hedingham before that happened.

"You've been out cold all night," Serenity turned and picked up a glass of water, pressing it to his lips. Yami ignored the fact that he dribbled half the contents of the glass down his naked chest. He could think of nothing more than the desire to taste the fresh liquid in his parched throat.

"We were worried, milord...especially your father."

"Father was worried?"

"Yes." Her features softened and she brushed at his hair once more, "when you've eaten he wishes to talk to you."

Yami struggled to sit and swing his legs over the edge of the bed within the healing chambers. By the sight of the sunlight through the large windows dawn was only new but he should have been enabled to hear the noise of festivities. Yet the only sound he could hear was the chirping of a bird. His brow furrowed.

"I don't need breakfast; I need to speak to my father."

Serenity gave a dark smirk, raising a single eyebrow. "Milord, you are going to eat something even if I have to forcefully shove it down your throat."

Yami cringed back into the bed, muttering, "damn you woman."

Serenity raised an eyebrow, propping both hands upon her hips. "What was that milord? Did I hear you swearing?"

"No." Yami rolled around, "you didn't."

"Good, because if you did you know I will spank your cute butt."

"Shut up!"

He couldn't help but hear the amusement in her tone as she replied, "Yes milord."

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After being poked and prodded all morning by Serenity and Isis (a knight's worst nightmare in the making) Yami near whooped in relief when he was released from the confinements of the healing chambers. With lunch in full swing outside upon the green lawns of the protected, shielded bailey the corridors of the Keep where empty. He could hear the laughter of those outside, the singing and the dancing he imagined was being continued despite the dangers of their weakening shield.

Seto was becoming frantic, the Wizard genius not understanding what was going wrong with his technology and Yami hated that feeling, the feeling of knowing his friend was under such stress. Seto might have been a prick but he was still his friend and their saviour in so many regards.

Making his way through the stairs up to the higher chambers of the Keep Yami kept feeling his chest, wondering how Yugi was feeling. Yugi who didn't have the kind of medical attention he did, Yugi who was seeing, experiencing things he had never seen nor experienced. How he ached to leave Hedingham, to search for the other half of his soul.

Ringing a hand through his hair Yami groaned, scrubbing his scalp in frustration.

"Careful Temmy, don't damage your brains." Bakura's voice startled him slightly and he glanced around to spy his friend walking towards him. "I see you survived the night? How's your dragon?"

"He's fine...I think."

"What happened?" Bakura offered, biting at a finger-nail in his usual display of half interest in the matter. Yami knew otherwise, their resident White Knight was had his attention entirely shifted in his direction and his question was more out of concern to who he knew was travelling with Yugi. Bakura may not of had a clear shot memory of the past, sure something was blocking the knights genetic recollection, but he wasn't stupid. They both knew Yugi wasn't the only one half of a soul they had to hope after.

"An attack on a Monastery, both a...thing...a dragon and Raiders."

"All at once?" Bakura flinched.

"Yes."

"Okay...what's a thing?"

"Good question." Yami threw the conversation back at him, "you tell me? My memories aren't like an old DVD, I can't just...will them up when I want. I remember dying, someone I loved killed me."

They both stared at each other, red eyes dark and brooding.

Bakura snorted, first to turn away, "Your Father's waiting." He shrugged his shoulder, motioning down the hall, "come on...this is important."

"Everything is important now." Yami whispered, quickly tucking in his shirt and brushing at his hair, hoping he looked a little bit like the young heir he was supposed to. Together they approached the wide doors into his father's office and Yami shoved on them, pushing them open. He stepped through the threshold, noticing instantly those who stood in the room awaiting him.

Tristan and Duke were to one side, near the large windows opening up to the bailey outside where the lunch was in full swing. His father was leaning against his desk, talking softly to Pegasus and to one corner, little sweet Rebecca was waiting like a silent shadow.

Yami swallowed as his Father turned to see the intrusion. The doors clipped shut as Bakura shoved them back into place and there was silence for a moment before Lord Atum moved.

"Atemu!" The Lord spread his arms wide, "thank goodness."

Yami forced a smile, "Father." He inclined his head. "I'm fine-."

"No, no...you're under a lot of stress and I should be apologising for my behaviour." Atum pressed his hands to the young knights shoulders.

Yami blushed slightly, "I'm...ah...Father, I'm not stressed. I'm quite fine."

"Well, whatever the case," Atum forced his own smile, "I do not wish to lose you like I lost your mother...so...as you wished, we...I mean...I have decided to call off the festivities."

Atum hugged him tightly, almost too tightly for it be a normal kind of hug. Yami frowned for a moment, glancing over his father's shoulder towards Pegasus and then briefly at Rebecca's frightened little self beside the tall old knight. She was quivering, her eyes flickering between the father-son scene towards Duke and Tristan standing alert and ready by the large windows of the office.

Something wasn't right.

"I...don't understand father." Was the pathetic amount of speech he managed to get out.

Pegasus stepped forward, giving a low bow, "Knight Yami, if you are unwell then I will not fight you. That is hardly honourable of me! Your father has explained the situation to me, your failing power Cores and the possibly of your...amazing shields going down...it is terrible, terrible news for Hedingham. We must do what is best for the people right now."

Yami glanced back to his father. The young heir gave a confused expression.

Atum patted his shoulders in a reassuring manner, "What...what I suggest right now, my son, is that you go down to lunch and enjoy the sunshine. Actually, Knight Bakura, please accompany him and make sure he eats."

Yami blinked. "Father...with all due respect, I'd much rather be here with you discussing what we're going to be doing about supplying all the visitors with safe passages home."

"I know," Atum patted his son's shoulder gently, "but...you," the aged man stared carefully into his sons eyes and Yami sensed a sudden shiver down his spine, "you need to consecrate on something else, like, feeling better."

Yami thinned his lips, catching the hint. "Yes, Father. Thank you for taking my advice into consideration. I will try to rest this afternoon so that tomorrow I will at your disposal." Yami bowed and turned on his heels. Glancing to Bakura and giving a small, slight nod of his head. Bakura bowed also before leading him out of the office chamber and down the corridor until their distance was far enough away.

Bakura stopped in mid-stride. "What the hell was that all about, you and your father didn't crack an argument? That scene was wrong Temmy, you both should have been at each other's throats about what's happened? Hell, there should have been a bloody fight with fists. You are never that complaisant with your old man."

Yami bent his head, gulping down saliva to wet his dry throat, "He's scared." The young heir bit his lips, "Felix..." he looked up at Bakura, his body trembling in sudden fright, "my father is scared."

Slowly Bakura nodded, he reached out carefully, giving Yami and small hug as the young man hung limply in awe.

"Come on Temmy...your old man's right about one thing, lets head to lunch and see if we can mingle and find out if any of the visiting knights would be willing to show their honour by aiding those from the outlining communities by giving them protection home."

Yami nodded against his friend's chest, but couldn't find the will to speak. Bakura held him tighter.

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The pain of his wounds wasn't too bad. Yami had actually done a rather good job patching it up and Ryou was confused, which was always a nice thing to watch. Their healer had done his best, managing to clear most of the easy scrapes and bruises that they'd all suffered. Sadly, nothing could be done to heal Aang's broken spirit and the young monk hadn't spoken a word. Kala had sat with him, cuddling him, keeping him close in her usual motherly mannerisms.

Yugi chewed the side of his lip at the sight of the two in the land-rover, remembering what it was like when he'd been the one in the young woman's arms.

It was a safe place to be.

It was little wonder that Malik, as hard and rough as he was, had been drawn to her from the get-go. Still, he had to wonder if the Egyptian would ever ask just what had transpired once upon a time, in the darkness of a caved in building where he and Kala had first met, when he thought he would actually, truthfully die.

He had gotten out of that tight spot alive, with Ryou unconscious and Kala's broken leg. They would get through this too.

Yugi thinned his lips at the odd recollection, wondering why he was recalling it now of all times. It was odd, the feeling he was having, as though he was in the mood of reminiscing defining moments in his rather short life-span. It felt like he'd lived longer than his years.

"Here Yug." Joey suddenly ruffled his hair playfully.

Yugi squeaked, pulling himself out of his day-dreaming. Joey cracked a laugh at the sound, poking his friend in the side, making him squeak again.

"Oh, Yugi...I remember this game."

"Shut up, don't you dare do that again or I'll crack your skull open."

"Then who'd drive?" Malik called out from the bonnet of the land-rover where he sat perched, peering through a pair of binoculars at the horizon.

"Me." Yugi snorted.

Malik cracked a laugh, "You? Whoa, Yugi, you're an awful driver. You've crashed nearly everything you've been in, including a go-cart."

With a pout Yugi stomped his way towards the Egyptian. He waggled a finger under the young man's nose, "that Beetle wasn't my fault, it was possessed, I swear..."

"Yup, possessed by you, that poor, poor Beetle..." Malik clasped his hands, fluttering his eyelids, "it didn't stand a chance." Malik kissed Yugi's nose playfully before twisting his legs around the smaller to drag him closer. The Egyptian smirked. "Cutie."

"I know, my arse is really nice...thank you, now get your hands off and go feel up your girl-friend."

"Touchy," Malik hugged the smaller in a gentle embrace, careful of the wounds, "you're so adorable."

"Girl-friend Malik." Yugi held back a laugh.

"She's being occupied."

"Hey, I got an idea." Joey held up his hands suddenly.

"Oh no," Yugi leant into Malik's lap, propping his chin up with the palms of his hands as he kicked is leg in the air, "that's a bad sign."

"No, no, hear me out. Aangs a monk right, Malik, this is the chance to get him to marry you and Kala and make sure your kid isn't a-."

"Say it and by golly I Joseph Wheeler, I will be the one cracking your skull open." Malik held up a finger from the hand he'd been playing through Yugi's hair.

Yugi pulled away, "on the topic of ideas...I've got one on where to head to next." He shuffled a hand in the pouch slung around his thin waist, pulling out a folded wad of paper.  
Yugi pulled out the map, slapping it over the bonnet of the land-drover. Joey and Malik peered at it in curiosity.

"Er...what Yugi?" Joey spoke up, brow furrowing.

"We're heading here," Yugi pointed to a red circled area, "Hedingham Keep."

"Hedingham Keep," Ryou poked his head out of the land-rover's sky-light, climbing up and out of it to land upon the bonnet in a crouch, glaring at the map, "isn't that the place that knight who stole our jeep was larking on about?"

"Yup." Yugi nodded. "And we're going there...it's the best place right now."

"That's gonna take us," Joey tipped his head to one side, peering at the map oddly as his mind calculated distances, "about a week and a bit, if we go like we're going now...which is kinda slow."

"I know." Yugi folded up the map, "Which is why we'd better start out right away."

"Yugi wait," Malik held out his hand, his cheeks blushing slightly as he glanced towards the inside of the land-drover to where Kala was hugging a distraught Aang tightly, "Kala's pregnant and-."

"I know and this is the best option for her. Word is, Hedingham is the best place around for pregnant women." Pocketing the map back into the pouch around his waist Yugi jumped up onto the land-drover's bonnet, peering over the clear horizon and frowning at the faint cloud of ash and dust back in the direction they'd come.

His heart sunk low at the thought of the monastery they'd just left. Another place lost to the dragons but just what had that beast of shadows been? It had been so much like the first dragon he'd seen, the one that had killed his grandfather in Egypt. Its red eyes had chilled him to the bone and released something from inside him. He touched the inverted pyramid around his neck, squeezing it tightly as he closed his eyes.

"Son of a Dragon." He murmured before jerking to one side, "Solomon!" Leaping off the land-drover Yugi swaggered around to the back of the car, glaring into the boot and spying Sol curled up under a blanket, clutching his small dragon egg.

"Sol, we're dropping the egg off."

"NO!" Sol screeched, "it's just a baby-."

"Solomon Motou, you listen to me right now young man, that is a dragon egg and when it hatches what is going to come out of it?"

"A dragon." Sol snapped. "Dah!"

"Right, which means I have to kill it because I kill dragons-."

The boy hugged the egg closer. "Not this one, I'll look after it, I'll make it like humans."

Yugi closed his eyes, rubbing a hand into his temple, "Solomon...you...you can't make a dragon like humans, dragons eat humans."

"No they don't! Not all of them!" Sol shouted and Yugi grabbed the boy's shoulder.

"Don't you shout at me Solomon Motou, you can't keep the dragon egg, you'll be endangering everyone here. We're dropping it off right now."

"NO!"

"Solomon, I am your father and you will listen to what I tell you."

Sol's small face contorted, tears dribbling down his dirtied cheeks. Yugi sighed at the sight, rolling his eyes.

"You're not my DAD!" Sol screeched suddenly, "You're not my real Dad! My Dad is a dragon and you're not him yet!"

"Solomon." Kala gasped, reaching for the boy and hoisting him up, "Don't you speak that way to your father, Yugi loves you!"

Sol wiggled, biting the woman's arm. She shouted in surprise, releasing him and he dropped into a crouch, landing upon the ground. Grabbing the bag he carried his egg in the boy ran down the grassy moor, ignoring the calls for him to come back.

Yugi stood, staring dumbly at the vacant place his son had just been sitting in. He blinked, coming out of his daze and reached for Kala's bitten arm.

"Kala..."

"It's fine Yugi." She smiled weakly. "Nothing I haven't felt before, trust me."

Yugi grabbed for his dragon-slaying pole, slinging it over the shoulder. The others were staring in the direction Sol had gone it, by their expressions it was obvious both Malik and Joey where debating if to join searching for the boy.

"You know," Joey scratched his breaded chin, "I thought kids were supposed to go through a rebellious stage when they reach their teens...Sol's like, still puny."

Yugi reached for his pole within the land-drover, swinging it over his shoulder, "like father like son." He muttered, "looks like we won't be going anywhere anytime soon until he cools off and I cool off."

"Well, we can have some lovely lunch then." Ryou forced a smile, glancing into the land-drover to Aang's sullen little form curled up on a chair. "I'll boil the kettle."

"Tea." Kala closed her eyes in rapture for a moment, "sounds lovely Ryou."

"Indeed, my dear, it is the answer to all. Oh, let me clean that bite for you. Shouldn't be too hard for me heal."

"Not after some tea." Kala linked arms with him, kissing his cheek as they both went back towards the land-drovers front seats.

Yugi scrubbed at his brow, "damn...stupid...dragon egg. Where the heck did it come from anyway."

"Yeah," Joey mused, "why did he find it in the first place." The American glanced over the green moors. The green was a nice change from the waste-lands they'd lived most of their lives within. To see it like a blanket across the ground gave such hope and beauty.

Yet Yugi knew the grass he stood upon was mutated, different and not really grass at all. The radiation was changing their world in ways they would never understand. The dragons were not their only enemy.

Malik glanced over the valley in slight concern, "he'll be okay, right?"

Yugi tipped back on his heels, "he can't run away if that's what you're asking. Just think," Yugi slapped the Egyptian over the shoulder, "you'll be doing this soon too."

"Oh shut up." Malik grumbled, "and how did you know she was pregnant before I did?"

"I'm both her odd-ex and her best friend." Yugi smirked, pointing at himself, "I get first dibs on all knowledge."

"What, no way, husbands do!" Insisting as Yugi started down the edge of the moor, Malik raised a fist in the air to the young man.

Yugi threw a wild smile back at him. "How do you know the kids not mine? I liked her too you know, back when I was that sexy seventeen year old."

"Yugi!" Malik stepped back, "don't joke! You were one freaky little guy back...then...wait, what am I saying, you still are!"

Yugi waved a hand in the air, vanishing through the bushes, "I'll be back later with Sol."

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Sol ran through the bushes and trees, sobbing as his little legs tried to take him as far away as possible, even though he didn't really want to. His heart was racing, pounding in his ear-drums, telling him to stop, to turn back, too go back to safety, back to Dad.

"Sol..." The voice caused him to stop in mid-run. "If you keep going, you're going to run into trouble. It's best if you stay here now, okay, and wait for someone to find you. I'll look after you until Other-Me comes and gets you."

Sol froze on the spot. He knew that voice from dreams of dreams, from a world beyond his own, in a past that people claimed had never existed. Every inch of his body, even his arms, clutching his dragon egg, became weak.

Carefully he turned around, large eyes widening at the sight he was given amongst the small clearing between the larger trees.

Standing elegantly behind him was an elongated creature, so perfectly poised and dressed in a royal white frock with gold all around the edges. He shined like the sun itself, hair shimmering waves of glossy fire. He was human enough to be human and yet nothing like a human at all. He was myth and truth all melded into one.

He was Ra.

Sol bowed his head, "Other-Dad." He whispered.

The man knelt, crouching in the grass like a lean feline of balanced grace. He smiled tenderly, rubbing long claw like finger-nails through Sol's tussles of wild hair.

"Heba, little one."

"Yeah." Sol glanced away, "Other-Dad, from the Other-Time."

Heba tipped his head to one side, "aright, Other-Dad it is then...now...why are you running so far from protection, of what I have seen, this new world is dangerous."

Looking down at his feet Sol gave a defeated little twitch of his shoulders. "Be...because...because I want to keep my dragon and Dad...Dad...Dad kills dragons. So...I did...I just started running!" Sobbing Sol clutched his dragon egg. "He's going to hate me, Dad will hate me, I said a terrible thing to him!"

"Shhh," Heba bent forward, touching long clawed finger-tip to the boy's trembling lips, "I would never hate you, I love you." A hand was run through his hair, "I will always love you, no matter what body I am in, what time I am in, where I am or who I am. You are my child, my perfect production, the sweat of my labour and I do mean that literally. Everything about you is mine, for I gave you life...in your life before and in this life now."

"You can't have a baby, you're a man." Sol squeaked, "Only girls like Kala can have babies! Dad said so!"

"Hmmm, not quite...there are things that I am not and things that I am and I am neither man nor woman...I am an Elder." Heba smirked, "You'll understand one day my little sun-kissed boy."

"Will it be a good dragon? So looked at his egg suddenly, his eye's lighting up in hope, "like Dad is...I mean...like you?"

"Sure." Heba nodded, poking Sol's nose, "if you make sure you are good."

Sol giggled, cuddling up his shoulders.

"Now...let's see here." Heba winked mischievously.

Sol gave another giggle, biting his lips in excitement. The humanoid dragon lord smoothed his hands over the egg upon the ground, rubbing circular patterns over its surface.

Sol watched with wide open eyes as the movements caused blue lines to appear across the egg. There was a soft, cracking sound and Sol gasped as pieces of the hard shell slowly fell away, leaving a small, shadowy creature lying in a pool of muck.

The boy frowned in confusion, riddled with delight, as he bent forward, "What...is it?"

"A Shadow-Stealer, a kind of dragon..." Heba sighed, "I sent it here for you."

Sol blinked, looking up at the humanoid dragon lord, "What? Why?"

"I have to tell you something Solly and you need to listen to me carefully, okay."

Sol nodded, eyes still trained on the dragon as it began to untwist itself, little jaw clipping at the goo that covered its rippling body of shadows.

"In your past, there was this terrible, horrible creature..."

"The one who destroyed Atlantis! I saw that in a dream." Sol piped up. "It was really scary!"

A finger was pressed to his lips, Heba's large purple eyes shimmered and Sol silenced himself quickly. The dragon lord continued, "this creature is a monster, but it is only a monster because it became corrupted. There needs to be a good shadow-dragon, one that won't hurt people...so I stole this one and sent it here, to the future, for you. It'll look after you..." Heba's eyes softened, sadness lingering in the edges of the wrinkles around his eyes.

Sol blinked, gazing at the little dragon as it began to puff out its long wings, whiffs of shadows instead of dark leather. Heba smiled, reaching out a hand. The tiny dragon meowed, puffing shadows as it rubbed a triangular head against the humanoid dragon lords fingers. Sol stared at the red eyes that turned his way, blinking in curiosity.

"Red eyes...?"

"A new Ancient One, an Elder, for the Shadow-Stealers...shadow dragons are different from my kind...they are not physical manifestations but are instead made out of the negative space in the universe." Heba glanced around, "I have to go Sol but..." he bent down, pressing lips to the boy's forehead, "you're going to be alright."

"Dad hates dragons!"

"He cannot continue to hate what he is Sol, you'll see, things will work out in the end." The ancient dragon lord stood, winking fondly, "good bye, little Pendragon. Oh," he paused and pulled something out from under his robe, passing it to the boy.

Sol blinked at the colourful lolly-pop yet the moment he looked up to thank the ancient dragon lord he found the area vacant. It wasn't for long, a brief second later Sol watched as Yugi pushed through bushes, spotting him and suddenly bursting into a run at the sight of him.

Sol squeaked as he was wrapped tightly in a strong embrace, hugged into a firm chest, one he had always felt safe against. He sighed, burying his head into Yugi's shoulder.

"I'm sorry Dad."

"Don't ever be sorry Sol." Yugi whispered, pulling away slightly to rub at the boys cheeks with dirtied hands. Sol gazed into the elder's eyes, seeing the rim of tears that had dribbled clear lines down dirtied skin. His Dad had been crying.

"I'm sorry." Yugi kissed him, hugging him tightly, "I love you."

A high-pitched squawk startled Yugi. He jolted backward, hand flinging to his pistol as he drew it in a swift single movement. Sol gasped, throwing out his arms.

"No Dad! Don't hurt him!"

"It hatched...already?" Yugi's face paled, "Where it?" He jerked back and forth, "Sol where is the lizard!"

Sol bowed his head, "um...here..." He whispered painfully, pointing between his feet.

"What..." Yugi slowly lowered his pistol slowly, staring dumbly in awe at the creature as it jumped around within Sol's shadow, puffs of darkness erupting from its claws and wings at the movements it made. It was a miniature version, he figured, of the horrible monster that had first attacked the monastery. Yugi blinked, his memory flicking back to the fight that had taken place there. Sol had no let go of the egg, and it had been the egg the beast had been trying to get at, not Sol at all.

Sol giggled as the shadow-dragon's triangular head slipped between his legs, the moment it touched true sunlight it squeaked like a kitten and hid back into the young boy's shadow.

Sol bent down, rubbing at its head of fluffy darkness. "Aww, poor Puff! Sun-light isn't very good for you is it. You can hide under my shirt, but I don't know what we're going to do when you get to big! We'll have to think of something won't we?"

"Puff?" Yugi raised his pistol again, "You've already named it?"

"Yeah! Puff the Magic Dragon!"

"Sol, you're not even old enough to know about Puff the Magic Dragon, I'm not even old enough to know about...but Grandpa was. Oh gosh." Yugi thumped his head upon a near-by tree, "Sol..."

"Dad! Look, it likes me. Can I keep it, please! We can raise it to like humans and not eat us!"

Still thumping his head on the tree Yugi placed his pistol back into its hoister. He rubbed at his cheeks.

On one hand his entire body was telling him to kill whatever creature his son was currently goggling over and yet a small prang inside said not to. That he needed to understand the creature, the tiny miniature version of whatever had attacked the monastery and killed Alexander Brisbane.

"Pendragon heh." Yugi turned back around to Sol, "Maybe there is some truth to these wacked out legends...come on then."

"Can I keep it!" Sol squealed.

"If it tries anything Sol, I will kill it." Yugi gave the boy a stern glare and Sol dipped his head in silent understanding.

The shadow-dragon gave a squawk and Yugi glanced its way, its red eyes blinking as they looked at him. Somehow, its squawks where sounding horribly like words to him. He shrugged it away and smiled, patting Sol's head.

"Ryou is making lunch, let's go."

Sol nodded, licking his lolly-pop. Yugi's brow furrowed in confusion as Sol skipped away.

"Sol, who gave you the lolly-pop?"

"You did." Sol grinned over his shoulder, a mischievous little glint shining in his eyes.

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The night outside was still.

Yami lay under the covers of his bed, his eyes wide open, staring at the ceiling. He could hear the creaking of the Keep, the movements of the floor boards and the chill of the air. Everything felt over-sensitive. Like his body was attuned to every noise and sensation.

Bakura was obviously trying to cast himself into a sleeping state with slow, steady breathing, however it didn't appear to working.

Yami heard his friends soft, deep voice from across the small space between their beds in their joined chamber. Obviously he wasn't the only one thinking too much to sleep.

"Your father agreeing suddenly about things, just after you collapse like you did...the knights at lunch, all agreeing to offer their aid to those who need it on their journey back to their communities. No...no...this isn't right. This is too easy Temmy." Bakura whispered from his bed.

Yami peered over his arm from where he lay, watching the white knight through the dim light seeping between the window curtains of their combined chamber.

"Something doesn't feel right, and the thing is, I should know what doesn't feel right but I...I can't remember. What the hell happened to me Temmy that was so bad I'm not letting myself remember?"

"I'm at a loss also Felix," Yami shook his head, "all I know...was that a shadow came, you...you were badly hurt, something terrible happened to you. Atlantis fell."

Bakura snorted, rolling around and curling up, "Well, heck...guess you'd better pay your dragon a visit then...night Atemu."

"Goodnight, Felix." Yami closed his eyes, hiding himself away from the night chill. He settled into a prayer, praying that the new dawn would bring hope and not despair. That Seto would figure out how and why their crystal cores were failing.

"Please," he murmured through the passing veil of sleep, "do not let the shadow fall upon us tomorrow...please, I am begging, give me a couple more days. Give me my dragon, I can't do this without him..."

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The land-rover was warm, their combined body heat creating a comfortable environment within folded down seats. Yugi stared through the skylight above, searching the stars. Upon his chest Sol was perched, sleeping soundly with only a slight murmur to his breaths. He hoped it wasn't the beginning of a cold.

The dragon, or whatever _it_ was, had curled up like a small kitten in the corner of the darkness. Yugi could sense its presence and tried to ignore it.

Gradually he closed his eyes, keeping them closed.

He wanted to sleep.

He wanted to see Yami again.

Was his knight hoping to see him too?

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_There was a moment where he doubted Yugi was coming and worry had begun to nibble at his gut as he waited beside their tree within the grey garden. Little by little the dream world was taking shaper form, its muted tones touching on the colour spectrum instead of just dull shadows and falling ash. Over the grass Yami spotted Yugi's slim form walking up the small hill side. Relief near knocked him senseless at the sight of his dragon. The knight didn't bother to wait, instead ran up to the young man. There was nothing the heir wanted more than to grab his counter-part and hug him tightly, yet he reframed, keeping himself in check._

"_Hey handsome." Yugi waved in greeting._

"_Yugi!" Yami gave a relieved pause, "it's...it's good to see you."_

"_Likewise." Yugi whispered._

"_How is the wound?"_

"_Oh..." Yugi glanced down at his open shirt, "its fine." He waved a hand in the air, "Ryou's healing abilities combined with your help has made it manageable...wow, you...ah...you look beat."_

_Yami blushed slightly, "yeah," he rubbed a hand against his night-shirt, "long day." Slowly he sat down upon the grey grass, gulping in air. Yugi silently followed his example, reaching out and touching his shoulder. Yami smiled at the given tactile contact, wishing he could truthfully feel it and not just the soft pressure of the hand. _

"_So tell me," the knight offered after a moment between them, "how was your day? Did anything happen?"_

_Yugi laughed, "Well, Malik complemented by butt, ah...Ryou made a pot of tea, I threatened to crack Joey's skull in. We decided to head to Hedingham...or...rather, I did and everyone just agreed with me." The young man gave a dark smirk._

_The knight chuckled, not about to reveal his sheer relief at the young man's admission to coming to Hedingham. To fuss over it, he was sure, would make it a large issue and he didn't want anything to stop his dragon from coming nearer to him. "Bossy?"_

"_A bit." With a twitch of his shoulders Yugi tried to look coy but shrugged it aside, smirking instead._

_Yami raised his eyebrows, "So...that all?"_

_Leaning back against a rock beside their tree Yugi sighed, "Well, Sol bit Kala, Sol ran away, Sol's dragon egg hatched and now I have a freaky little dragon travelling with us that seems to obey every word I tell it. I swear, it's as if it understands me and I...I seem to understand it." The young man threw his arms skyward, "the world is messed up."_

"_Yes, I know..." Yami groaned, "tell me about it."_

"_So, I'm not the only one with problems, didn't think so, not with how you're looking tonight?" Yugi glanced at the young knight, noticing his sullen expression as he plucked at the grey grass._

_Yami shook his head, "I wouldn't want to burden you with anything else to worry about and I doubt it is anything to be concerned over."_

"_If it has you concerned, knight, then it is of concern."_

"_It would deter you from coming to Hedingham and I do not wish for that." Yami raised his head to look across at the young man seated upon the rock, playing with his bare toes as though he was a child._

"_Right now, Yami, we have no place other than Hedingham to go too. It seems the logical place, even to the others...with the Monastery out of the equation it's at least a safer place than being out in the middle of nowhere."_

_Yami perked up slightly, "So...you'll be coming here?"_

"_We're heading towards you as best as we can." Yugi nodded, "Such was the vote..or my...ah...recommendation." He waved a hand flamboyantly in the air, "they're basically the same thing."_

_Relief washed over the knight, his head filling with blood from the rush of swelling emotions playing havoc with his body. To know his dragon was coming to him, after what felt like such a long length of time, they'd meet and maybe, just maybe Yugi would help him again._

_Yami felt his mouth go dry at the thought of their problem, of the rising issue of the failing Cores and the strange Dragon toxin admitting a powerful enough charge to affect both human-neurological thought patterns and Seto's power supplies._

_The Yugi in front of him would help as much as he could, but it wasn't the Yugi he needed. He needed his dragon. Slowly Yami crawled towards where the young man sat upon the smooth rocks gathered under their tree._

_This was his one chance and he knew already he was going to ruin it, the trust he'd developed, the love he'd tried to show, all of it would vanish the moment this conversation started, but he had no choice. It was now or never. He had to try._

"_Yugi," taking up the travellers hands Yami grasped them tightly, wishing for a moment that he could feel the real texture of his skin, wondering if it'd be smooth as it now felt or hardened with war and struggles. _

_Yugi raised an eyebrow worriedly, staring down at the kneeling knight._

"_Gee, Yami...you're not proposing are you?" Yugi joked softly, "I know you're stressed but I can't help you there, not matter how handsome I think you look."_

_Shaking off a laugh Yami bowed his head, "No...I'm not proposing you idiot..." _

"_Oh blow, and I had my hopes up." Yugi muttered drily, trying to tug his hands free, slightly surprised when Yami didn't release them. _

"_There is just less of a chance of you hitting me in the groin from this angle."_

"_Okay, so whatever your about to tell me is going to be enough to want me to harm you that badly?" Yugi slipped his hands out of the knights grasp, looking suddenly serious. _

_Yami sighed heavily, nodding and brushing a hand through his hair, "yes..."_

"_Out with it then." _

"_You know the legend about the Pharaoh and the Dragon, how they-."_

"_Traded Soul for Red Eyes...yes, I know the story Yami, I grew up breathing that tale. Freaking things haunted me my whole life."_

"_Well...what if I told you I'm the genetic incarnation of that Pharaoh and that's why I have red eyes."_

"_I'd tell you your clinically insane and to go to hell." _

_Yami ignored the tested tone in his counter-parts words, "And what if I told you that the reason why we share these dream-times is because you're the dragon who gave me your eyes and I in turn gave you half of my human soul so that you'd know what it felt like to be human-."_

_Yami winced as Yugi's hand whacked him hard over the cheek and he was glad for his foresight in kneeling. _

_The anger was visible in the trembling of the young man's body._

_Yami listened as Yugi stood. _

_He followed the young man, "Yugi please..." Yami beseeched, holding out his hands. "Listen to me...I'm telling you the truth._

"_Prove it to me then!" Yugi shouted, spinning on his heels and glaring up at the knight, "Prove it to me. Prove to me I am a freaking, man eating, cold blooded, world destroying lizard from hell!"_

"_Yugi I can't...my memories I can't give them to you!"_

"_So you remember being a Pharaoh do you?" Hoisting himself up Yugi grabbed the bag of supplies, "and you remember me being a bloody dragon!?"_

"_Yes but you were not a bad dragon Yugi, you were intelligent and understanding. You loved the world and you saw the ruin your kind were causing...you loved me and those in my Court...you were not a monster-." Yami choked on his words as Yugi's glare darkened and for a moment he was sure, had they not been in a dream-world, he would have been killed on the spot._

"_I don't love anything Yami, I hate things." The young man hissed in spite, though the visible tears told the knight otherwise, "and I hate you. Everyone is mad, you know, mad! I am sick and tired of dragons, magic, bloody battles and living this God-forsaken torment of a world!" Pointing at the knight Yugi breathed out deeply, "I am not your dragon, go find him elsewhere and leave me alone. You should never have tried to care for me; I am not worth your time, your highness. I am not worth anything!"_

_Turning on his bare feet Yugi trudged away into the growing grey. Yami stood slack for a moment before moving, holding out a hand, "Yugi wait please...can't we just talk this over a little while longer!"_

"_Leave me alone Yami, don't bother! I am not your dragon; I am nothing but a dream."_

"_Yugi!" His shout was returned with naught but an empty void of grey as the dream world faded, leaving him in a vacant swell of ash. Slowly he slid to his knees, bowing his head to the ground he curled up tightly. "No...Yugi...no...you're worth everything to me. I can't keep going without the other half of my soul." He rocked back and forth. "Come back." Yami whispered through a sob, "please, Yugi..."_

_He flinched suddenly as warm hands were slid through his hair, cupping his wet cheeks. They raised his head until he was looking into wide, purple, smiling eyes looking at him through a fiery mane of golden hair contrasting against olive tanned skin._

"_Heba?" He choked out the name, feeling it leave his lips in the ancient language that had become so natural to him over the passing days. The ancient dragon smiled tenderly, brushing away the tears with long lean fingers, clawed with nails that could shred skin in an instant and yet only spread tingles through his body as they stroked gently._

"_Don't cry not-my-Atemu..." The dragon hugged him tightly and Yami slid into the embrace, feeling the heat the beast in human-form radiated._

"_What do I do?" Yami whispered, "How do I save you...?"_

"_I don't need saving not-my-Atemu." Heba whispered, drawing back and kissing him gently, "ever thought that maybe...you're the one who needs saving." _

_Yami frowned in thought, "What?"_

_Heba pulled away slowly, fire collecting around him limbs, "you're running out of time, not-my-Atemu...don't make me loose you again, don't make Other-Me watch the Shadow kill you. Our soul can't be torn like it again..."_

"_Heba! Please...don't leave me too." Yami stood, reaching after the ancient being. _

_Heba turned slightly, "Not-my-Atemu...I am not leaving you." He pointed a long nail, "Other-Me can't leave you...we are the same soul, you have my eyes, not matter what, we shall come together in the end."_

"_But Yugi hates me."_

"_No," Heba snarled, "he hates himself. You know that already. He knows what he is but he is denying himself the truth because he despises who he is, what he has become, the man he's grown to be. You need to show the Other-Me that he is not a monster, that he is worth loving, because I can assure you, not-my-Atemu, a dragon in pain is a dragon you do not wish to fight." Heba paused from walking away, "by the way," he tapped a finger to his chin, "you're looking for someone with two shadows."_

_Yami winced in agony as he was thrown from the dream-world and into a memory._

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_He was standing in an alabaster chamber, the size of a small castle itself. Through a ceiling made of glass, light poured in, casting long shadows of thousands of pillars morphed out of running liquid that spiralled through interlinked tunnels under the glass floor, like a pattern of cycles leading to a crystal throne._

_Yami trembled, his eyes settling upon a scene. He was the silent watcher and the vision caused his knees to buckle under him. Standing amongst the light was a man he could have pegged easily as Bakura, the white hair, the dark skin and the blood red eyes were all Bakura's features but what he was doing was not something he had ever imagined Bakura doing._

_The sword the warrior clutched was thrust through the chest of the man he knew was his past-self; the Pharaoh; the ancient king of Atlantis. His blood was pooling upon the clear floor as his body slowly went limp._

_Yami panted, sliding to his knees, touching his mouth._

"_Bakura...no..." He saw the fact he'd been missing. Behind the killer two long shadows were cast, one a normal elongated shadow of a human, the other a twisted, vile casting of something devilish from a child's nightmare. _

_The mighty doors of the throne room where slammed open and Yami winced, jerking the direction of the echoing boom. Through the entrance a frantic Heba ran. He skidded to a jerked stop at the sight of the scene. The Pharaoh's body slid down the blade, landing flat on the floor in a halo of blood._

_The not-Bakura turned and sneered, pointing the weapon playfully at the dragon lord._

"_Hello brother, it appears your human is dead...how long until you fade too?"_

_Yami closed his eyes against the high-pitched scream that erupted from the suddenly enraged dragon. In a crack it shattered the glass of the domed ceiling above. The shards rained down, tinkering across the vast chamber like pattering rain._

_Yami knew nothing could have prepared him for the sound of such a heart-wrenching cry. It felt as though the world itself was resonating in pain._

_He would do anything to never hear it again, never from Yugi's lips._

"_Atemu!"_

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"Atemu! Atemu! Damn it, wake up! Atemu!"

The heir of Hedingham came awake with a shout, "What?!". He gasped, panting to find breath and coming awake to Bakura shaking him in a frantic rush.

He looked towards his friend, seeing the confusion and fear visible in his eyes.

"Felix...? What's...what's wrong?" Yami gasped aloud, trying to regain his bearings. He was back in his chamber, in his bed, in his world, his ruined and destroyed world.

"It's Seto..." Bakura gulped, "No...no...actually, its Moki...Atemu...he's...he's..."

"Oh God please no," Yami wrenched himself out of the bed, presuming the word first off, "he's not dead!?"

Bakura collapsed onto the ground, his eyes hollow in dread. "He may as well be..."

Yami shouted and punched a wall, ignoring the blood from his knuckles as he hit it again, the third time someone grabbed him and hauled him backwards. It was Tristan. The larger knight gripped him in a vice grasp, holding him as he struggled to be released.

"Yami! Stop," Tristan shook him like a doll, "Mokuba isn't dead...but his crystals have been taken from him, if he doesn't get them back he's gonna die. Someone who knew about him and Seto are behind all this, come on Yami, we've gotta move before the last Core dies and our shield fails."

Ever the present strength Tristan laid it out plainly, plainly enough for Yami to calm, breathing out deeply, he looked up at his friend.

"We're looking for someone with two shadows." He whispered. "I don't care how stupid or how impossible it sounds Tristan, but we're looking for a dragon who can steal someone's shadow. This happened before...and I am not going to let it happen again." For a moment Yami glanced towards Bakura's sulking form upon the floor and he gritted his teeth. "This time, this time...I'll win."

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Yugi woke. He sat up and blinked, staring around the land-rover at the sleeping forms of the others around him. He bit his lips, hiding his sudden sob inside as he curled up tightly and began to weep.

"I'm such...I'm such an idiot." He whispered, "I hate...I hate...why...God...why am I so...so stupid!"

"Dad?" Sol's hand touched his shoulder and Yugi jerked away, staring at his child in slight confusion for a moment before grabbing the boy to pull him close. Sol carefully hugged his parent as Yugi sobbed openly.

"It's okay, Dad...it'll be okay. I love you. It'll be okay." The boy whispered softly, stroking Yugi's hair in the fashion of an adult, trying to be as comforting as his childish years could offer.

"Oh Solomon," Yugi murmured, "I've been so stupid."

"You're not stupid Dad. You're the most not stupid person in the world!"

Yugi smiled weakly, "I scared away the only person who's ever cared enough to bother with me..."

"Don't be silly Dad." Sol shook his head, "The Pharaoh won't give up, he loves you because you're his other half." The boy gave a stout nod as Yugi stared in confusion at the child's words.

Sol hugged Yugi tightly around the neck, "so don't cry Daddy. I'm here."

Yugi bowed his head into Sol's shoulder, "yes you are Sol..."

He closed his eyes, picturing himself as a child, gripping hold of his grandfather, "I love you too."

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Yami skidded down the moist dungeon stairs deeper into the underground chambers of the old Keep. Bakura was close behind, with Tristan in close tow. The young heir could feel his heart racing, racing in the horror of dear young Mokuba's life being held at such a thin distance. He could recalled with vivid detail the day he'd met Seto Kaiba and his little brother, the plan crash that had near killed them both. If not for Seto's sheer will and determination, his almost magical ability with technology even so far gone after Tribulation saved the two Kaiba and saved the community they now called their home.

Seto was the one who found the Crystals, before Tribulation came, he was a business man, whose adoptive father had hoped to use the Crystals as weapons. Seto had other ideas and he was the one who lived through the plane crash, not his father.

Yami skidded to a jolted stop at the iron door leading into Seto's lair. He smashed his fists onto the surface and pounded.

"Seto! Its Yami! Let me in!"

There was a pause. Nothing happened.

Bakura shoved Yami aside.

"SETO, LET ME IN! Or so help me I will bust this bloody door down!"

The door slid open with a soft whine. Yami clapped Bakura over the shoulder before the three knights silently entered the darkness between the doorway.

For a brief moment they were within the darkness until light shimmered, allowing them into the lair. Yami glanced around the chamber and down into the lower sunken area, surrounded with teh glittering hologram screens and blue neon lights fed from the Crystals themselves. Running down the small set of stairs Yami noted Seto curled up on his couches near his work space. Hearing the near emotionless man sob was heart wrenching and Yami closed his eyes for a moment.

He heard Bakura whispered.

"Whoever this is...who's destroying our community, I am going to kill with my bare hands."

"Whoever thought," Tristain spoke up, "we'd find ourselves not in trouble with dragons but humans-."

"Don't ride off the dragons quite yet," Yami offered, "there is still that strange dragon toxin we found. I believe this is more than it appears." The young heir wandered quickly through the holograms.

"Seto...where is Mokuba?"

"I...I...put...him in...status..." Seto whispered, "I can't lose him Atemu, I can't."

"I know." Yami folded a hand against the Wizards shoulder, "I know."

Seto buried his head into his hands.

Carefully Yami seated himself beside their resident Wizard. He wrapped an arm around his shoulders and pulled him plush against his chest. For once the stern faced, dark natured young man didn't pull away. Instead he pushed into the embrace, giving a weakened sob.

"This...this wasn't supposed to happen...I said my Cores would last forever." Seto choked.

Yami closed his eyes, "And they should have, Seto...but when a shadow falls, light struggles."

"This is my fault-."

"Seto," Yami breathed in deeply, "this is not your fault..."

"Moki will die...I should have used something different than the Crystals, I should have never tried to use them for good. My Father was right-."

Yami twisted, gripping Seto's arms and shaking him, "don't you talk that rubbish to me, Seto Kaiba, we are going to figure this out. Your brother is going to live!"

"How?" Seto gave a weak shake of his head.

Yami glanced towards Tristan and Bakura. For a moment the young knight's eye darkened their red, dangerous shine and he smirked.

"By bringing the demon that's done this out into the light."

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Listening to Joey sing on an off-beat, wailing kind of voice like that of a dog in agonising pain, to an old CD stuck within the land-drover CD player could only last for a certain amount of time before Yugi knew he was going to snap. They'd been driving through the grassy, forest valley and moors for a good solid five hours and his legs were starting to itch to move. To one side of him, Kala slept with her head sound upon the land-rover window. Malik was near her, reading what looked like an old text taken from the monastery. Ryou and Aang were in the back-seat, with Ryou having finally managed to get Aang to speak once more, on topics that both seemed to enjoy. Yugi couldn't really hear whatever it was over Joey's loud voice happily chiming away to the CD.

At his feet Sol was curled up with his new 'pet' dragon wrapped up into the shadows.

Yugi sighed and propped his head back.

Three more minutes before he clobbered Joey.

Something caught his attention in the corner of his eyes. Yugi frowned at the shimmer of light in the sky. His body twisted around, trying to gain a better view past Malik and Kala.

Suddenly, like a tin can being smashed at with nails a hail of iron arrows splattered through the land-drover.

Shattering the glass of a door, an arrow ripped through Kala's chest. It splattered blood across Malik's shirt as he caught her. Yugi ducked as a rain of the weapons hailed around them once more through the windows of the land-rover, many being caught in the metal hull of the car.

"OUT." He screamed, "OUT." Shoving the door open with a foot Yugi ignored the fact that he had practically smashed it open as though it was paper. He dragged Sol out, hearing the boy's cries as Malik pulled Kala out. Ryou struggled, holding a blanket to the gaping wound.

A high pitched screeched echoed through the valley and Yugi shivered, knowing the sound. Raiders. They'd not travelled fast enough, the Raiders who'd swamped the monastery had caught up with them. There was no way out, the valley was a trap on all sides and it wasn't as if they'd even manage to out run the radiation crazed creatures.

"She's dead..." Malik stood suddenly, stepping away in horror, "Yugi...she...she's..."

Yugi grabbed his pistol, pointing it at Malik, "I know...we all are." He fired. The shock of the sound causing Sol to scream as Malik dropped limply to one side beside Kala's bloodied body.

Twirling towards Aang Yugi didn't wait for the young Monk to nod. He fired a killing shot, turning towards Ryou.

The healer closed his eyes.

"Oh well," he sighed, "we gave it a jolly good try."

"We did." Yugi smiled weakly. "It's better this way."

"I know." Ryou sighed, "make it quick."

"I'm a good shot." Yugi fired, wincing as Ryou dropped limp. The first Raider landed upon the car and Yugi twisted, hearing another gunshot as Joey blasted the monster dead with a single rifle blast.

The blond looked to Yugi in a beseeching manner.

"Shot me already."

"I'm sorry-."

"Don't be." Joey threw aside his rifle. "I'd much rather it be you, Yug."

Yugi nodded, firing again. He twisted away, pulling out a new round and snapping it into his pistol, kneeling beside the land-rover to where Sol was cowering, hugging tightly his shadowy dragon. Yugi knelt in the blood stained dirt, hearing the screeches and crazed cries as the awful creatures humans had created poured down the valley side. Hugging Sol Yugi licked his dry lips.

"It's okay Dad...I get it." Sol whispered, "I'm old enough to get it."

Yugi held Sol tighter to him, praying for the strength to do what he knew he had to do. Pressing the barrel of the pistol to Sol's temple he stared at the boy's eyes, wide and innocent, watching him in silence and acceptance of their fate. There the child sat, hugging the dragon that crowed in confusion. Yugi rubbed at Sol's hair, gazing at the new child of their new world, who would die in the new world.

"I love you." Yugi choked on his words.

"I know Daddy." Sol grinned, "I love you too. You're the best Dad ever."

Yugi felt the tears stain his dirty cheeks. He tightened his finger on the trigger and winced as it made the popping sound. Blood splattered across the rock face as Sol fell limp in a slump, skull shattered form the force of the close range weapon. Yugi breathed out, twirling the pistol and holding it up his mouth.

_Sorry Yami, it would have been nice to meet you, see you next time we loop in whatever twisted idea of fate you have._

He pulled the trigger.

Puff screeched.

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_Well, I did say I was kind of using this story as a way to get out all my sodden emotions instead of killing the cast of my novel I could kill fan-characters instead. Genius. I feel better already..._

_:p_

_Review if you get the time._

_If not, see you later._

_*hugs*_

_T.W.W_


	9. THC Book 1 Chapter 8

_Yes, I realise I am uploading a large number of chapters in one go but I decided it was better this way, so you could all read it like a novel or something._

_I don't know._

_Well, enjoy the chapter my friends._

**The Hedingham Chronicles**

**Book 1: Walk of Fire**

**By: T.W.W**

**Chapter Eight: Remembering Fire**

_Light shattered his vision. _

_Like the peeling back of shimmering white curtains his eyes slowly opened, to stair upward at a bed hanging of white silk over tall alabaster posts. His trembling body could feel a cool nibbling of air on bare skin. The echoing sound of waves crashing upon a beach made him frown, wrinkling nose in confusion at how odd it was to hear such a melody, one he could barely recall from child-hood and yet right now it was closer than it had ever been before. _

_The over exposed light slowly faded, leaving him realising that he was in a white room of carved alabaster, surrounded by pillows and soft silken blankets of a bed that was draped in a canopy of a soft purple sheen. It seemed as if all the colours in the widely opened chamber were pastel in hue, creating a peaceful and serene place of safety and protection._

_A few moments of pondering if this was heaven made him realise he was not the only one in the bed. In fact someone had their arm placed over him and he was pressed to a startling cold body, hard as rock from the firmness of well used muscles. _

_He'd never expected a body to be so very cold before, a human was warm blooded, and yet he felt such a strange chill radiating against the contact between their skins. _

_Then again, that really didn't matter, what really, really, really mattered was why he was there and who it was that was being so oddly intimate with him. _

_Carefully pulling away Yugi dusted at is blond fringe, ignoring that his skin was not its normal colour and that his body felt different, those things could wait. He reached out his fingers, ever so gently soothed away the folds of hair from a sleeping face, set in peace from a deep, deep slumber. _

"_Yami...?" Yugi squeaked in surprise at the realisation. He scrambled away, coming to the edge of the large bed and giving a yelp as he fell off. He landed hard on his back. Pain shot through his limbs and he coughed, lying upon the cold floor, staring at the ceiling as he regained some breath. That was new, he'd never felt pain in his dream-world, which meant this was not his and Yami's normal dream-world._

_A soft, deep chuckle sounded and a head peered over the edge of the bed, staring at him with a perplexed expression._

"_That, Heba, was the most unceremonious exit you've ever made from this bed. What was it this time? Another bee? You're an immortal ancient dragon...bee's can't hurt you." _

_Yugi blinked. _

_The man's skin was such a deep, rich chocolate brown there was no possible way he was Anglo-Saxon, or even inbred slightly like Yami, but it wasn't Yami despite looking distinctively like the knight he knew from his dream-times. The man had their tri-coloured locks looped around his shoulders, and the same blood red eyes Yami flaunted, he was just as toned and firmly built, leaning over the bed, having that same quirky smile to his lips as the heir of Hedingham._

"_Heba?" Yugi tasted the name, it came out wrong, in another language. "I'm not Heba." He crinkled his nose._

"_Hmmm," the not-Yami raised both eyebrows, propping his chin up with both palms, leaning further down the edge of the bed and corking his head to one side happily, "you look like my Heba."_

"_Well I'm not." Yugi winced as he scrambled up, trying to untangle himself from the soft silken sheets. "I'm Yugi Motou."_

_The not-Yami appeared to make a snap decision in that moment. "Alright Yugi Motou...I wouldn't try untangling yourself quite yet until I've told you a couple of things."_

"_I'm fine." Yugi hissed, pulling free a leg, not really noticing that it was longer than what a normal humans was expected to be._

"_I'm sure you are," the not-Yami smiled kindly, lifting his fine form up and swinging both legs over the edge of the bed to watch the young man on the floor, "but if you're not my Heba you might find that body a small shock unless you know what's what."_

_Yugi stopped suddenly, his attention turned directly towards the royal man upon the bed. He looked serious enough on the matter, red eyes full of clarity._

"_Please...can you tell me if I'm in heaven or not?" Yugi glanced around, "because I distinctly remember shooting myself."_

_Not-Yami reached for a long shirt that hung on a bed-post, pulling it over his head to hide his nakedness. "Well, travellers to my country have called this place heaven, but in fact, you're in Atlantis." _

_He mused off-handily. "We're a moving country, so I can't give you a location on a map..."_

"_Dandy." Yugi breathed out, taking a moment to note the blue crystal dangling freely around the man's neck on a golden chain. _

_He felt the one he himself wore, pressing to the smooth surface of his skin, admitting a soft, pure glow of gently pulsing light. _

_He started up pulling out of the blanket once more. The not-Yami sighed heavily and stood, coming towards him and grabbed his arms as he crouched in front of him, seeming hardly bothered that he was barely wearing anything. _

_Yugi gulped, oddly unnerved for the first time in his life. This situation was beginning to feel very strange and yet vaguely familiar._

"_Alright Yugi, first things first, you're from the future right?"_

"_I'm apparently insane, not dead, and you're not-Yami and your asking me if I'm from the freaking future!?"_

"_Guess that answers that. My name is Pharaoh Atemu, ruler of...well...that really doesn't matter. Yami, I am guessing, would be my future-self." He stated it as a statement, not a question._

"_Hi, nice to meet you." Yugi gave a sing song chime, "Please let go of me or I'll kick you really hard in the groin."_

"_You are currently in the body of my dragon, Heba, the other half of my soul." The kingly ruler ignored the threat._

"_Yes, it seems that is so." Yugi stated darkly. "Now let go."  
"No, because it doesn't sound like you remember anything of this life lived, therefore letting you go wouldn't be a very good idea until we're clear on a couple of fundamental facts."_

"_Yami has already tried to convince me that I am an ancient dragon with all these ancient memories...I'm not buying it, which is why I'm thinking I'm in this unreal world...I am dead, because I just shot myself so that Raiders wouldn't rape me to death, peel off my skin and make it into clothing. Damned bloody radiation insane men, they can all rot in some fiery pit of hell." He spat each word. _

_Atemu thinned his lips in a faint show of concern, "sounds delightful."_

"_I know," Yugi chimed in mockery, "isn't it just. The future is so freaking fantastic! So I am not a dragon, I kill dragons, I hate dragons, dragons destroyed my world!"_

"_You are a dragon, Yugi Motou, the strongest of the Eldest, the bringer of fire, god of the sun, lord of time and space. My dragon."_

"_I am not anyone's anything, least of all a freaking dragon." Yugi snarled and wrenched at his wrists. The man didn't release him; instead he was suddenly brought closer, to the point of being able to smell the sweet scent of oils used in the ruler's hair. _

_He blinked as he was carefully wrapped in strong, muscular arms and hoisted up as though he weighed nothing more than a doll._

_He was deposited upon the bed to sink into the mattress. It surrounded him like a cloud. Atemu carefully untangled his legs from the sheet that had caught him in his fall out of the bed. Finishing the ruler climbed up, sitting in a kneeled position before him, placing both hands in his lap. He smiled._

_Yugi's heart stopped; that simple smile enough to slacken his entire body. He didn't move or protest. He sat and stared. _

"_Alright, apparently you're just as stubborn as Heba, glad to see the genetic mumbo jumbo I'll ask Seth to do, at some point, actually works. You must be the perfect copy, untainted by thousands of years of human life. Fascinating."_

"_Yes, very." Yugi glared._

"_Now, my very stubborn Yugi, obviously my future self has tried and failed to convince you of your true existence, therefore I'll take this wonderful opportunity to help him out. This is going to sound like an odd request, but humour me..." Atemu offered sincerely._

_Yugi nodded slowly._

_The ruler continued, "You're naked under that sheet, I want you to lift it."_

"_What?" Yugi blinked in innocent confusion. "Why?"_

"_I said, humour me. I don't have to see anything, this is about you."_

_Rolling his eyes and heaving a sigh Yugi complied, pulling the sheet up. For a moment he stared before his face went suddenly pale._

_With a small squeak he shoved the covers back around him quickly. "Um...I have one where I'm from..."_

_Atemu raised both eyebrows, obviously happy at the reaction. "You would have been born human in your time, Heba was not, this body you're in is a reflection of half of the soul I gave to you...both of you." He paused and frowned, "Did that make sense?"_

"_Kind of yes, um...so I'm not a man..."_

"_No."_

"_And I'm taking a wild guess here from that very quick view I had but I'm not a woman either?"_

"_No."_

"_I don't have a gender?" Yugi tried again._

_Atemu gave a laugh, "no."_

"_What am I?" Yugi squeaked. "I can't be not anything!?"_

"_Like some plants you are a hermaphrodite, neither male nor female, but contending to them both."_

_Yugi swore loudly, making the ruler laugh only louder in delight. Pouting Yugi folded his arms firmly over his chest, glaring darkly._

"_You're enjoying this?" He accused._

_The ruler smirked, "Yes, because once you were the one trying to explain it to me, I never thought I'd have to return the favour."_

"_You once told me," Yugi held up a hand, "we live in a world of magic and dragons, anything is possible."_

"_Well quoted, I'll remember that one for my quote book." _

_Yugi groaned and flopped back onto the bed, "This is not happening. I really am insane."_

"_I assure you, Yugi." Atemu grabbed his arms, pulling him up back into a seated position, "You are not insane...you are my dragon, but not just a dragon, you are the most beautiful dragon this world has ever seen."_

"_Right..."_

"_You are." Atemu smirked, "and I'm not just saying that because you're mine. Its true."_

"_Okay," folding his arms across his chest Yugi glared, "Humour me then and tell me why I am a hermaphrodite...when I've never seen or even heard of such a dragon and trust me, I've been around."_

_Atemu nodded, "Well, from what you and Ryu have said, Ryu is your brother by the way. The Elders are the founders of the dragons as a race, they are all hermaphrodites. There were more of you once, but you've been slowly killed off by humans and other Elders...three of you remain that we know of. Yourself, Ryu and Zorc. Both you and Ryu are trying to figure out a way to make others...genetic manipulation or some hogwash that Seth knows about." Atemu stood, walking towards a wall and pressing the surface. "You are not born of the planet earth, you are in-fact star-travellers who were marooned here for crimes I won't mention."_

"_I'm an alien?"_

"_Pretty much." Atemu shrugged. _

"_Well...you know...that one I didn't expect." _

_Yugi watched as the seemingly solid wall of stone the Pharaoh had pressed shimmered as though a pebble had struck it, before it slid open to reveal an indoor wardrobe. The ancient king reached in. With a quick flick he pulled out a white robe and walked back to him to pass it over. _

_Yugi gaped at the white fabric. _

_He'd never worn something so clean and pure in his life, it almost felt like a sin to touch the milky silk, but then again, he wasn't covered in soot and blood in this world. Looking at his hands, they were not scarred with war, his skin was tanned brown, not as dark as his human counter-part across from him, but darker than what he'd always been._

"_I don't understand, I've seen male Alpha dragons and female dragons, they work like a pack of lions...the females go off hunting, the males stay to protect their...area..." Yugi frowned._

"_Yes, each Elder began a different pack. You were..." he paused, seeming to search for a right word, "well, when you came to Earth you attached yourselves to an element. Over time you gained intelligence because of your genetic memory. An Eldest would be reborn into the pack when it was threatened with extinction and you would gain all the memories of your pack, who were like normal beasts of the earth...this all happened before you came to Earth. But basically you could start your clan again and the cycle would begin once more...then slowly, over time, you...Heba, became self-aware and began to see something wrong in the way your race worked. You formed a friendship with a fellow Elder, Ryu of the Water-Breathers...after your packs were settled or killed off you both decided not to begin the cycle again and instead sought a new way to live. You came to see something you were lacking that humans had during your long immortal lives, as you both travelled through the stars together."_

"_A soul." Yugi whispered. "We were beasts. No soul."_

"_Yes." Atemu passed him a drink before aiding him in standing. Yugi struggled for a moment, finding his legs too long, longer than they should have been. He almost felt as though he was walking on tip-toes, in such grace and style that he was more gliding than walking. _

"_Humans are blessed with the ability to be spiritual, emotional, set apart to protect and rule over the earth. You and Ryu wanted to be human...I wanted to save my kind from an opposing threat and...well...we formed a mutual agreement. As you can see it worked rather well." Atemu spread his arms to the balcony, revealing the pristine world outside, bathed in the most glorious of sunrays Yugi could only remember seeing once or twice. _

_It was a beach scene, an entire island set amongst blue, blue ocean that Yugi quickly realised wasn't the ocean at all, but the sky. The sound of the sea he could hear was instead the softly beating churns of constantly turning giant wind-mills gleamed white in the sunlight. The vast city was situated amongst interlinking streets of clear, clear water, where people were contently travelling on giant sea-creatures in small, crystal powered boats. Between a spread of forests towers speared upwards to catch the wind with large giant sails. _

_Yugi ran to the balcony edge, the wind catching his hair, loosening it as he beat forward, smiling in awe at the city below. Flying carts wavered through the air, glowing blue like the crystal around his neck._

"_Atlantis..." Yugi gripped the railing of the balcony, "oh Jii-chan...Jii-chan...you were right, it existed, Milo Thatch was right Jii-chan!"_

_He sensed a hand upon his shoulder and turned towards the ruler of the world around him, the light making his features all the more stark. Yugi gulped as an arm was slipped around his waist as they stood upon the balcony within the soft wind._

"_Heba loves this view, he takes off from here...you can see these indents in the floor," he motioned to the marble ground and Yugi glanced at the large grooves, "his claws make those."_

"_Dragon..."_

"_Yes indeed, a beautiful dragon, made of sun rays and fire. You are beautiful, Yugi." A hand was brushed through his hair._

_Yugi flinched away from the touch, feeling his body react to the gentle caresses in a way he had never felt before. Then again, it wasn't really his body was it? "I am not a dragon."_

"_Deny it all you want but you are, my very stubborn little Yugi."_

_Yugi pouted, grumbling under his breath as he took a sip of the glass in his hand, wincing at the sweet taste, liking it almost instantly and quickly he gulped down the liquid, feeling it coat his mouth insides like a layer of sugar._

_Before he could even realise it, he was purring in delight, a very non-human sound. He blinked, touching his throat, before jerking towards the king. He was smiling like a smitten school-boy._

"_Thought you'd like it."_

"_You're awful."_

"_I know." Atemu laughed in delight, tugging his hand. The ancient king dragged him back into the chamber. _

_Yugi found himself unable to pull away from the man, his body followed wether he wanted it to or not. Atemu picked him back up, seeming to note his difficulty in walking and placed him upon a futon. Yugi glanced away, feeling his body shiver as the ancient king brushed at his hair, leaving lingering touches over his bare shoulders. _

_This man, so much like Yami, obviously knew the body he was within well, well enough to evoke such strange sensations from simple touches. _

_Yugi gulped. This Atemu looked old, not physically, instead the age came from his movements and his red, red eyes. Such a thing meant he'd lived long enough to understand the body Yugi knew he was in, and not just understand the body, but the creature that inhabited it._

_Him._

_Or the him he'd apparently been. This man knew him, better than he knew himself. That in itself was a daunting fact; almost enough to convince him this was real. _

_Atemu stood, walking towards a stand of royal looking clothing and a desk lined in ancient jewellery. Yugi sat, watching the king silently go around preparing for the day ahead._

_Reaching for another drink Yugi quickly drowned it, letting it cool down the heat in his throat. Atemu only chuckled at him from the reflection in the mirror. _

_Yugi growled, pouring another drink, realising Heba must have been just as thirsty, giving reason for the amount of jugs and glasses spread around the room._

"_So, if I'm a hermaphrodite that means I produce my own young right?" Yugi pointed down at himself. Atemu finished fitting a golden piece of jewellery around his neck, looking at Yugi through the mirror in the wall._

"_Pretty much, as far as I know it works that way. You consider that private, so private I wasn't even involved in Sol's birth." For a moment the ancient king looked slightly frustrated but the expression shifted back into an easy one, whatever emotion that had been lingering vanishing. "All I know, is that you left me for about a year randomly one day and came back with a little bundle in your jaws. Do you know how freaked I was that you'd crushed the boy...don't do that to future me will you." Atemu chuckled._

_Yugi threw his hands up, "Whoa, wait, Sol exists here...you're telling me I had a freaking baby dragon?! That's...that's why he dreams of this place!? So...its true..."_

"_Sol is mostly-human, if you must know, you wished it to be so and you are a great and powerful dragon...usually whatever you wish for happens. The energy you manage to cluster around you somehow effects the physical realm in which we humans reside within. I don't really understand it, but it works." The king shrugged, "Who am I to argue."_

_Yugi stared at him. _

_Atemu shook head his head, coming towards him and placing both hands upon his shoulders. "Don't you get it Yugi, you're the strongest creature on this planet and you belong to me. You chose me to be the human you would give your eyes too. We're a part of each other, your strength is my strength, my strength is your strength...you are my weakness, I am your weakness."_

_A hand was passed through his hair and Yugi closed his eyes, managing to squeak his voice through his lips, wishing the hand to never stop touching._

"_Sol...why...why did I have him?"_

_The Pharaoh sighed, seating himself upon the futon beside the humanoid dragon. "Well...from what Heba's told me, your kind, the Fire-Breathers, are a strong clan but he's always known they'd kill themselves off because they're simple beasts and humans do enjoy hunting a good fire-breathing dragon...you were content to let your kind die away."_

"_What? Why?"_

"_Because...well...it's complicated, Heba was...he was sent here as punishment for a crime he committed against the Eldership. Your punishment was horrific and it scarred you...you were forced to breed but where given no control over your clan and you had to watch for centuries as the humans you'd tried so dearly to protect were consumed by your own clan."_

_Yugi blinked, "They forced me to have children?" He didn't even know who 'they' were but the thought wasn't a compelling one. _

_Atemu seemed to wince as if his mind was entertaining a long ago memory. "Children is too much of a human word, Yugi...at the time, you had no soul, no consciousness just intelligence. I believe the crime you committed agaist the Eldership of your race was one of intelligence, not of passion or a human emotion..."_

"_But Sol...he's...he's my child?" Yugi whispered._

_Atemu smiled tenderly. "I won't lie to you Yugi...you were tortured by the fact that your off-spring killed the humans you liked so much. I say liked because as a dragon without a soul you couldn't have seen us as anything else but 'likeable.'_

_When we made our pact and you, for the first time, felt human emotions...well...it took me a while to help you to understand the grief and shame you felt. You were utterly terrified of what had been done to you as punishment. It was cruel... "_

"_I don't get it?"_

_Atemu sighed heavily. "Well, Sol is an Elfin...a child of a dragon and a human but not in the...universal way."_

"_Because I didn't have sex with a human to have him?"_

"_Well, I wouldn't have put it so bluntly, but yes. You don't need to...you're an Elder."_

"_An alien?" Yugi snorted, "wow...fun."_

"_Your sarcasm is quite entertaining..."_

"_Apparently. Alright, go on handsome? How come Sol's so special?"_

"_I guess my point is, when I traded my soul with your eyes inwardly you changed. You cannot give birth to a real dragon any longer because..." Atemu touched Yugi's chest with a finger, "you have half a human soul. Therefore, Sol is half human child, your child...partly mine because it's my soul he takes after, hence why he looks a little like me. You no longer had to fear losing control of your clan because whatever off-spring you gave birth to would be born with a human soul. Entirely intelligent and not a beast of fire and...well...a beast. You solved your own fears."_

_Yugi thinned his lips, "doesn't explain why I had him?"_

"_You brought him to life to hold your genetic marker...because...both Heba and I know our reign won't last...hence why you're here. Heba is lord of time and space, he envisions the future on many occasions and often it frightens him terribly. Of the dragons you gave life to where you were forced to produce off-spring, only the Fire-Breathers and the Shadow-Stealers remain in large numbers. In my Court I have the last male Earth-Mover, Metal-Shaper and Wood-Weaver...sadly...we have never been able to find the Elder Dragon of the Air-Benders. Then there is yourself, a Fire-Breather and Ryu a Water-Breather...both you and Ryu are the strongest-."_

"_Because we're Ancient Ones." Yugi closed his eyes, "so...it's my fault my worlds destroyed...because...I didn't kill enough of my own dragons when I had the chance in this life-."_

"_No." Atemu shook him firmly, "no Yugi, it's not your fault at all. Its Zorc's fault."_

"_Zorc..." Frowning at the name Yugi looked upwards into the Pharaoh's eyes, the red reflecting him them throwing him back to the day he and his grandfather had unearthed the first of the dragons. That awful beast had looked right at him, seen him with clarity and understanding of a human and not killed him._

"_Yes, Zorc." The Pharaoh's hands clenched into fists and Yugi noted the slight change in the man's stance, the anger that he was containing even mentioning the name. "A Shadow-Stealer, an Ancient One like you and Ryu. It is his fault, everything is always his fault. That, Yugi, is why Heba created Sol...so that, no matter what, in the future, if ever he and I are needed again to balance the world, we would be reborn into humanity. We'll scattered Atlantis's power sources one day, the Crystals will become infused with the earth once more. Though Atlantis shall fall into the ocean some remains of her shall exist for you and my future self to pick things up again."_

"_So...my grandfather...oh gosh," Yugi collapsed onto the futon, staring dumbly ahead, "my grandfather was actually right, his stories of this world, he knew them because he lived here...he really was Pendragon."_

_Atemu sat beside him, gathering up his hands to squeeze them tightly, "Sol is immortal, because he is your child. The same immortality I and those of my Court have covers him...so yes, the man you call grandfather would have lived through the centuries since Atlantis's fall."_

_Yugi gave a sob, burrowing his head into the man's shoulder, curling up tightly. _

"_Hopefully," Atemu continued softly, "by the time Atlantis is ready to fall, Ra make it a couple centuries or so from now, Sol will be ready with the genetic markers of every dragon and human partnership of my court. He needs only spread that genetic gene enough that when your future comes, the genes will be activated."_

"_It worked." Yugi choked aloud. _

"_That's good to know." Atemu kissed his head softly. "Heba will be glad when I tell him. He worries so..."_

"_Wait...what about my Sol, my time...he's with me...a child..." Yugi pulled away, giving a confused frown, "my grandfather died when we uncovered the first dragon but my Sol is so much like him...he even remembers being here! He remembers you, this place...he calls it his home!"_

_Atemu touched Yugi's chest, "Yugi, you're the most powerful creature in existence, this physical realm is your plaything...whatever you wish for, you get. If you blame yourself for the death of your grandfather, which I imagine you have all your life, then it's only logical that what energies you have that work to conceal your dragon-side within the human-flesh you wear would start to create another Solomon."_

_Yugi began to tremble, clasping his hands to his face._

_Atemu touched his legs, leaning forward in concern, "Yugi...Yugi what's wrong?"_

"_Sol?" Yugi's breath hitched in his throat, standing suddenly in full height, his eyes watering in horror as the memory of killing the child resurfaced. He trembled, slipping downward. Atemu caught him, suddenly anxious._

"_Yugi?" The ancient king rubbed a hand through the dragon lord's hair, hugging him tightly._

"_I...I killed him...everyone...they're all dead." Yugi held onto the firmer body, quivering, "What future do I have to go back to! Everyone is dead! I'm dead...I...I..."_

"_Shh," Atemu rubbed back the young man's fringe, "It's alright. Listen to me, you just need to remember, Yugi." Atemu whispered, pressing his lips to his forehead, "If you can remember, if you let the pyramid do its work, the crystal of Atlantis melted into it will sing and you will remember. Your human body won't hold you back anymore..."_

"_What does that do!?" He cried, "they're all dead! Don't you get the meaning of the word!"_

_Atemu gripped his shoulders, shaking him, "Yugi didn't you hear anything I've told you...what a stubborn little version of my Heba you are indeed! You are a powerful dragon, Yugi, a dragon who can manipulate matter, space, time...whatever you want! You know how to fight, I have seen you kill armies before in this humanoid form alone...these enemies you speak of would not know your fury if you just tried to remember who you are."_

_Yugi blinked away tears, looking into the blood red eyes of the ancient king, he whispered softly, feeling the world blur around him and his limbs grow weak as the crystal around his neck began to brighten._

_He heard the song._

"_Atemu...I'm scared." He clawed for the king, "Please...Atemu, I'm scared, I don't want to leave you again, don't make me go back into that darkness where my fire won't burn."_

"_I know, Heba..." A hand was pressed to his lips, "I know...but you don't need to be scared," a cold breath touched his ear, whispering, "the fire is in you, let it go."_

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It was as if he'd been thrust through a storm and slammed back into his body. Yugi found himself within the land-rover. It took a moment for him to figure where he was, not in Atlantis, and he was not surrounded by his dead family. Instead they were back in the valley, Joey was singing along to that horrible CD, Ryou and Aang were in the back seat chatting, Kala was sleeping and Malik was reading. Sol was still alive at his feet, cuddling his dragon. Yugi's eyes widened, he wrenched forward and grabbed Joey's shoulder, shouting.

"STOP."

In a swift reaction that caused everyone to shout aloud in shock the American slammed his foot upon the break and Yugi yelled, "Everyone down!"

They obeyed and the second after a shattering rain of iron arrows smashed through the land-drover. Yugi breathed out a prayer, shoving open the door beside him, "Everyone out."

"What is it Yugi...Raiders..." Malik answered his own question. "We're dead...we're-." Joey's rifle blasted a Raider dead as the monster leapt over the land-rover.

Kala screamed as the radiation insane creature landed dead upon the ground.

Yugi felt the rush of recollection swell over him, and glanced around at his friends, alive. He hadn't touched his pistol of yet and events were still playing out. Voices echoed all around him, the rushing of breaths and the crying of Sol as across the horizon the approaching Raiders ran in a crazed frenzy.

Joey was looking at him, waiting for an order to kill those they loved. The American shook his head and turned away to do the deeds himself, pointing his rifle towards Ryou.

Yugi stood, his gun slack in his right hand, the pole he held in his left slid free and clanked upon the ground, a wash of nausea swelling through his limbs for a moment before it was replaced with a sudden spike of adrenalin. He swung towards Joey in an automatic movement, his limbs shifting like a graceful dance. With a simple swing he knocked Joey to the ground and grasped the rifle the blond held, snapping it across his knee. Turning to the bodies of the slain Raider he swept up a bloodied axe and blade as though the two heavy weapons weighed nothing to his slim frame.

He ignored Joey's impounding shout and Malik's confused yells, his mind centred upon their deaths in what seemed like only moments before. His body carried itself without his will, towards the approaching horde of ranging Raiders, staring at them and the crazed insanity they showed upon their self-mutilated faces. Their existence the undeniable proof that the radiation of the world leader's last hope of the nuclear weapons had done more damage than good.

Slowly and with fluid movement akin to an ancient dance he raised both weapons and swung. He followed the song he could hear, drowning out everything else around him, until all he heard was the song. The song of the universe, of time, space and of his soul.

The twanging colliding of weapons echoed through the valley as the horde swept down upon the lone figure, twirling and twisting, dealing each monster a slicing blow to kill in a single sweep. Yugi tasted the blood as it splattered over his lips and cheeks, staining his blond fringe the crimson sheen. He could close his eyes, sensing each movement before it happened, anticipating the thrusts and cuts that marred his body as hundreds of weapons aimed in his direction.

Then finally the last remained and he glanced towards it with a leer, feeling fangs in his mouth lengthen from the fury of battle. The lips of the Raider covered in blisters, eyes wide in their insanity. Yugi stared into the animal that had once been human and felt pity tweak through his limbs as it moved towards him with a lunge.

He twirled up the blade he held, whipping the head clean from the shoulders. The body fell limp beside him atop the others.

He panted from the release of strength, feeling himself slowly returning to reality. He stood amongst the carnage, blood trickling down his arms from the splattering of the liquid over him, coating his skin and clothing like sodden rain. He glanced downward at the inverted pyramid, noting the blue glow it admitted, the crystal of Atlantis he was sure that lay within the golden cover, slowly dying down and with it left the song he'd been hearing. At the fading of the song his attention snapped around and he released both weapons, shaking blood from his hands, wiping it off his face, only succeeding in smearing it all the more.

"YUGI!" Ryou shouted, the white haired healer running towards him, stopping at the piles of slain Raiders, staring at his life-long friend amongst it all in awed disbelief that it was even humanly possible.

Yugi slowly looked towards Ryou, noting the fear and confusion within his eyes.

"Ryu..." He whispered hoarsely, "I remember..."

"Ryu...who...is Ryu?"

Yugi laughed suddenly, "You." He pointed before tipping forward and the last thing he could recall was Joey catching him before he fell onto the ground beside those he'd slain. The blonds frantic voice echoed in his skull, slowly fading away to reveal the pristine beauty of the garden in his dreams.

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Yami sipped his water. A conference had been held, though Seto had refused to leave his lair, insisting he couldn't leave the Cores. Yami stared darkly out into the world beyond. Their shield was failing, he could almost see it flickering in its weakness.

Below, the tents and festival was still outlined, though something in the air made it feel more silent as if those celebrating life had started to pick up that something was stirring. They needed to get everyone out, safely out, without attracting the attention of dragons or Raiders or spooking everyone into a mad rush of fear.

"We cannot allow everyone to leave in one big rush." Pegasus offered and Atum nodded in agreement from his seat at his desk.

"He is right," Atum glanced to his son. "Atemu, if all the guests left in one single day it was draw attention from the dragons and possibly Raiders also. We have to do this slowly, without causing panic."

"I agree father." Yami inclined his head.

There was logic behind the reasoning. Such a large number of people leaving Hedingham would indeed bring more trouble, even if all the knights had agreed to go with those who needed protection.

"Have Duke and Tristan write up a list of those who should leave first to the furthest out of the communities then work back from there over a span of a week." Atum weaved his hands together, placing them upon his desk.  
"A week!" Bakura snapped his head to attention suddenly, "the Core won't last that long-."

"Then I suggest," Atum darkened his tone, "You both try and figure out what this dragon toxin is that is killing Seto's crystals and who has stolen Mokuba's silvers from his arms."

"Only someone who knew that Mokuba has robotic arms could have stolen the crystals." Yami whispered, "Only a hand full of people know..." Yami looked to Duke and Tristan, trying to gage their reactions.

"Then you should start there." Pegasus raised his eyebrows.

Yami glanced to the man, who stood just behind his father's chair, dining on a glass of wine as though it was liquid gold. The young heir thinned his lips, not liking the image that he was being graced with. He nodded slowly, "yes, you are right Knight Pegasus...that is indeed where I should start."

Rising from his seat Yami clapped Bakura over the head. The white knight followed him from the office and they both wandered silently through the halls until they were back within their own courters in quite silence. Yami seated himself upon his bed, slipping off his shirt and curling up into a small ball.

"Bakura..."

"I know..." The warrior paced back and forth, pausing only to pour himself a glass of whisky from a small table at his bed-side, "That toxin...it could control what it touched right? That's why you tried to make sure no one could get harmed by it in the tournament."

"I fear," Yami scrubbed his hands over his scalp, "one of us is..."

"Under the influence." Bakura concluded darkly. "Temmy, you can't trust anyone, hell, you can't even trust me...I mean...I...I was the bad guy back then..."

"So," burring his head into his knees Yami choked out, "is this what happened when Atlantis fell?"

"Maybe. Come on, you'd better get Duke and Tristan working on those evacuation plans and I'll pay Seto a visit, see if any of his machine recorded anyone breaking into Mokuba's chamber or something. There has to be something Temmy. We just have to keep working, that's all we can do right now."

"Yes," Yami stood, reaching for a clean shirt, "yes you are right."

"Usually I am."

Yami took a swipe at the corky white knight.

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Bakura slandered his way down into the dungeons, wondering just why on earth he was the one who had to attend to their resident Wizard with food and forced happy cheer. Yami would have been a better choice, Seto actually liked Yami, to some extent. Possibly it was more of a mutual agreement not to kill each other than anything else, but it was likeable respect.

Bearing a tray of food given to him by the darling Serenity, mother-hen-woman-of-hell-second-only-to-Isis, Bakura thumped his way to the iron door into Seto's lair for the second time in two days. Honestly, he hadn't visited the man so often, people might start to talk. He smashed his metal toed boot into the iron door.

"SETO, OPEN THE DAMNED DOOR!"

He waited.

Nothing happened.

"SETO KAIBA, Yami says open the damned door!"

A voice called through a hidden microphone, "Yami isn't with you."

"Just open the freaking door Seto."

It slid open, no shoe was thrown out. Bakura glared at the darkness before he took a deep breath and plunged into the thick milky liquid. It pulled at him for only a moment until he was released into the techno-world of Seto's lair. Through the blue glow of flickering lights Bakura spied Seto slouched in his hovering hair, glaring at a hologram screen of flickering images. The white knight walked his way down the stairs into the sunken level of the lair, sliding the tray onto the table nearest Seto.

He darkened his tone, "Serenity says that if you don't eat this, I get to shove it down your throat. I will enjoy that."

Seto didn't look up from his work, instead reached out a hand and took the first hot muffin upon the tray.

"Good boy." Bakura lounged back into the nearest couch, throwing one leg over the other. "Well, Yami's trying to be king of the world and we've got a bunch of people needing to get the hell outta our Keep, what's new on your side of the globe Seto?"

"Not much," Seto mumbled. He slid off his glasses, peering at the white knight thoughtfully.

"I got a question for you," Bakura ignored the sorrowful look in the Wizards expression and pointed at him directly, "Moki was sleeping when he got his slivers taken from his arms right?"

"Yes."

"How the hell did someone get past your alarm systems, shouldn't you have records or something wiz-bang like that?"

Seto nodded. "Indeed," he turned in his wheeled chair, sliding across his desk space, shifting a hologram screen up with a finger and throwing it into the air between himself and Bakura. He wheeled his chair through it and touched the surface of the floating screen with a finger.

"I've already looked into this, but whoever it was knew my system...that...or they knew me before the plane-crash." Seto scratched his chest for a moment.

"Yeah, and?" Bakura stood, coming to rest himself upon Seto's upright chair, gazing at the screen.

"The backup files of the video recordings in this lair have all been wiped." Seto glanced around at the white knight, "stop breathing in my ear."

"You know you like it." Bakura sneered, "go on."

"Fine," Seto slid a finger over the screen, "the only thing that I could find was this." He flicked a finger and a shimmering image appeared.

Bakura frowned, stepping back a pace at the words flickering over an image of Mokuba.

"I do this for Zorc. Zorc is my master..." Seto whispered.

Bakura stepped back a pace, his eyes widening as memories suddenly shattered his skull. "Zorc..." He murmured the name in ancient Atlantian, holding out his hands as if trying to protect himself from the oncoming memory that slammed into him. Tears suddenly burst from his tear-ducks as he stood, dumbly, unable to move, within a room of alabaster. He was holding a blade in a hand and was staring at the blood as it dribbled down the keen, shimmering blade.

Lying at his feet was Atemu.

Yet that was not what frightened him the most, what frightened him was the beautiful creature standing across the great hall of white, a human that could neither be called a man nor a woman, who stood holding a tiny child in his arms. His hair was the whitest shade of snow and his eyes a soft chocolate brown, mixing with skin pale like a waxed moon.

"Ryu." Bakura felt his lips whisper, "run...I can't...keep him inside me...for long...please, Ryu...run!"

The creature held out a hand to him and he heard the voice, soft and gentle, "I knew it wasn't you, I love you, my human."

Bakura winced in pain, grabbing his head, feeling the sudden jarring of something invading his skull.

Seto's voice penetrated the pain as it faded.

"Felix! Please, Felix, wake up." The Wizard was shaking his shoulders.

Bakura jolted, coughing and suddenly lurching over the side of the couch he lay upon, vomiting across the floor.

Seto slapped a hand over his face, cringing back. "Felix?"

"Oh God no..." Bakura coughed, gripping the edge of the couch as his body trembled in the after-math of the moment, "no...no...oh...no I...didn't. Ryu...it wasn't me..." He curled up tightly, sobbing.

"Felix, you're speaking in that language I cannot understand." Seto insisted, "please...someone! Speak my language!"

"Zorc, I know what he is..." Bakura looked up, his red eyes hollow, "I know what he is Seth."

"Who's Seth?"

"You."

"Oh," Seto paused, "right, yes, I am." He rolled his eyes, "what is Zorc?"

"Nothing." Bakura closed his eyes, "he is the nothingness in everything."

Seto thumped down upon his couch in disbelief, "of course," the Wizard whispered. "My Crystals are the energy of the Earth, only Nothing can cancel them."

Bakura gave a weak sob, bending over his knees.

"Bakura?" Seto reached out, "what is it?" He touched the white knights shoulder carefully, almost afraid for a moment that the knight would lash out.

"I...I was the one." He curled up, "He took over me...and Atlantis fell."

"Zorc," standing Seto glanced around his machines, clicking his finger tips together as his thinned his eyes, "who are you this time?"

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Yami dragged himself through the door into his chamber, noticing Bakura already perched in bed, looking dazed and thoughtful in the dim candle light. The young heir slipped off his shoes and fell into the bed, curling into the covers.

It had been a long day. His father had thought it would be best that the tournament continued for now, just so the people would not become bored and fearful. Yami had to admit, the people didn't seem too fussed, they still highly enjoyed the knights running around.

"You going to see your dragon?" Bakura offered, glancing around to see the pitiful sight of the knight spread out on the bed.

"Trust me, Bakura, he doesn't want to see me again." Yami groaned into his pillow. "He hates me."

"Temmy," looking up over his book Bakura turned to stare at the moping knight collapsed in his large bed, looking like a heart-broken teen, "it's my understanding that all relationships have their little spats at times but the way to overcome such things is good solid communication. So go talk to him and leave me alone, I have enough to worry about with all this hell breaking loose here. I don't need to hear about your problems."

"He won't be there when I go to sleep-."

"I'm not your damned shrink, Atemu Amir, go to sleep and leave me to think about my own memories. I need to figure out who the bloody hell Ryu is and just what he means to me. Go to sleep idiot..."

Yami winced as an object was thrown at him; it hit the wall, thumping onto the bed. He peered around to see it was one of Bakura's boots. He shoved it off the bed, rolling around and climbing under the covers, wanting to glare holes through his best-friend but decided against it and instead he curled up tight.

His body was hurting from the days fighting sessions. He'd had a few good tumbles from his horse and a visiting knight had made a lucky hit on his left shoulder, badly bruising it to the point it needed to be strapped by Isis. Everyone had to retain some normality, as not to spook the visitors, even though Hedingham Keep was slowing becoming a dangerous place to be, the shield failing, Mokuba's crystals being stolen.

And finally his father was listening, but it was too late now. His father was frightened, fear held him, nothing more than fear. Fear of something or someone amongst them.

Still all of seemed like nothing though, compared to the idea that Yugi was angry at him. They'd left on such distasteful terms the latter night he could barely bring himself to want to fall asleep, knowing he'd turn up in their dream world alone and sad.

Still, he'd gathered some supplies from the kitchens anyway and even managed to find a lolly-pop for Sol, just encase. With that thought in mind, his exhausted body fell into a lazy state that soon became a solid slumber.

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_Yami stared. He found himself standing in the dream world garden. It was no long a shade of grey. Instead, the world had exploded in a rush of colours and scents, even his bare feet where sinking into the soft moist grass, the water squeezing between his toes. _

_He ran, tearing his way up a small hill, slipping in the moister of the grass. A rush of emotions filling him as he spotted the tree beside the mound of white rocks, their tree, the tree he and Yugi always met at. It was in wild bloom, small white flowers amongst green, green foliage. He stopped beside the rocks, looking around yet seeing no one in the surrounding area._

_His heart sank low and he closed his eyes, gripping his hands into fists._

"_I was worried that you wouldn't come, handsome, I've...been waiting awhile." The voice that sounded from behind caught him by surprise, making him gasp, his body becoming oddly light and queasy._

_Yami twisted around, spying Yugi standing beside their tree, bathed in the colours of the lush garden that finally had no grey amongst its flora and array of exotic flowers. The light of some illusionary sun danced off the sheen of blood that coated the young man's skin, he looked as though he'd just slipped out of a battle, hands still trembling from the aftermath of it. He was covered in a layer of blood that dribbled down bare, cut up arms, running with sweat._

_Yami touched his own arms, suddenly figuring why the day had been such a difficult one to get through._

"_Yugi..." Yami choked, clasping a hand to his chest, daring to step closer. _

_Yugi gave a thin and weak smile, his eyes brighter than they'd ever been, as though finally he was seeing something that had never been visible. "My Pharaoh." _

_The moment those words left his mouth Yami knew his dragon remembered. The knight ran towards him, grabbing him tightly in a crushing hug, wanting to pull him into him and rejoin their separated halves._

_Laughing softly Yugi looped his arms around Yami's neck as the knight lifted him off the ground, spinning him delightfully._

"_You remember." Yami whispered weakly, dropping Yugi onto the ground, staring into his purple eyes, watching the tears leak down over the blood stained cheeks. _

_Yugi managed only a nod to confirm. _

_Yami beamed, giving a shout and throwing his arms to the heavens, "thank you!" He spun on his heels. "Yes!"_

_Yugi smiled weakly, "Someone's overly excited."_

"_Beyond excited." Yami gripped him, frowning suddenly as if noticing the current state of his count-part. He stepped back a pace._

"_My gosh, Yugi...what happened?!"_

_Yugi raised his eyebrows and look at himself in thoughtfulness, "Raiders." He concluded after a pause. "Lots of them...so...many of them...I...I...killed them all..." Yugi stared at his blood stained hands, clasping them tightly, "to protect those I love." _

_Yami took hold of the trembling hands, gripping them tight as he raised the raw knuckles to his lips and gently kissed them. _

_Yugi closed his eyes, breathing out. "I'm sorry...Yami, I am so sorry...I'm sorry I didn't believe you."_

"_Don't be." Yami shook his head, "I would have reacted just as badly if you'd been the one telling me I was an ancient Pharaoh with half a soul missing."_

_Yugi laughed weakly for a moment._

"_You're a good looking Pharaoh, Mr. Ruler of Atlantis." Yugi smirked, wedging Yami in the gut with an elbow. _

_Yami chuckled, "and you, Yugi Motou, are not a man...you're...not even a male...or a woman!"_

"_Shut up!" Yugi squeaked, pointing at the knight, "shut up! Don't you dare mutter that to anyone! Do you hear me!"_

_Yami erupted into laughter and Yugi hid his head in his hands, shading away the dark blush across his cheeks. _

"_Damn it Yami!" _

"_Oh come on," Yami hugged him tightly, "let me have a little fun, this is like a reunion with a lover after a couple thousand years of being parted."_

"_You're horrible." Yugi groaned into the man's chest, feeling himself being rocked, "I can't believe I'm a...a..." He gulped._

"_A dragon?" Yami finished for him, resting his chin atop Yugi's head, "a beautiful dragon, the other half of my soul? A dragon who fought his own kind to save humanity..."_

"_Yes, yes, all that."_

"_Or you can't believe you're a hermaphrodite..."_

"_That too."_

"_I believe it." Yami whispered, pulling away for a moment, "You're amazing Yugi Motou, from the moment we started these little dream chats, I knew you were something special."_

"_You didn't know then?" Yugi blinked in surprise._

"_No." Yami shook his head, "I didn't know, but I loved you even then, my dragon."_

"_Well, I'm the other half of your soul, it'd be hard not to like me you know, almost physically impossible. I'm sorry; you're going to be stuck with me..."_

"_I want to be."_

"_Like I said," Yugi rolled his eyes, "other half of your soul, you can't have a choice in the matter."_

"_Then what's there to be sorry about." Yami raised seat himself down upon a rock, for once, finally feeling is true texture under his fingers. "There is nothing I would rather spend my life with, then my dragon...the most intelligent, beautiful, ruthless and yet gentle creature upon this earth."_

_Scrubbing a hand through his mattered waste of hair Yugi sat down upon the smooth surface of the white alabaster rocks which he know saw had been carved into the image of a dragon, shaped like an upright seat. He rubbed his worn fingers over the cool hard surface. _

"_I'd gladly accept, Pharaoh." Yugi closed his eyes, fisting his hands into tight balls in his lap, "but-."_

_Yami knelt on the moist grass, shaking head and cutting the dragon off mid-sentence._

"_When we meet for the first time, in reality," the young knight took the humanoid dragon's hands, "I will gladly offer you the rest of my living days, my home, my bed, my love, my protection...everything that is mine will be yours also, because you own it as much as I do."_

_Yugi licked off a tear that pool on his cheek, he struggled for a remark, "I...I come with a package deal you know." He pulled free a hand, rubbing finger and thumb into his eyes, "You won't just be getting a dragon..."_

"_You and yours are worth to me the same as they are worth to you, Yugi..." Yami whispered, "whatever is yours is mine too, that includes your loved ones. Plus, all of them are part of my Court."_

_Yugi giggled in that moment, "wow...yeah..." He paused and frowned, "So they are. How...wow, that is weird."_

"_Not that weird," Yami mused, "we planned it before it happened...all this...we planned." He brushed back Yugi's frazzled hair, trying to string his fingers through it, discovering blood had fused together the strands. _

_Yami cupped a large scarred hand around Yugi's cheek, feeling the young man lean into the touch, "Don't you get it Yugi..."_

"_We're the same soul." Yugi finished for him, smiling weakly, "Soul for red eyes and the eyes are the window to the soul. Malik and Kala...Ryou and-."_

"_Felix." Yami added._

"_Joey too. We're missing some."_

"_Seto." Yami smirked. _

_Yugi blinked before smiling, "you mean Seth?"_

"_Yup."_

_With a humming in the back of his throat Yugi thought for a moment, "Seth's partner was one of our only females, the Blue Eyes. I wonder...what happened her to. I can't remember." _

"_Don't try." Yami offered, patting his shoulder carefully, "if you try it doesn't work, you just have to kind of let it all seep back into my mind. It feels like a life lived in your childhood, a dream of a dream. You can't pin-point moments, but you know things happened."_

"_You've had a while to think about this haven't you?" Yugi corked an eyebrow._

"_A little while. My father told me after our first or second night-time visit...you accused me of a being a dragon with red eyes so I went to find out if you were right. After all, I've never lost a fight, I can see men's moves before they do them...that's not a natural-."_

"_You've just," Yugi smirked, "got a mental disorder." _

"_Shut up." Yami glared. "I'm as sane as you are."_

"_Which isn't very sane." Yugi offered, ducking his head for a moment, his arms folding around his chest in obvious closure of the conversation._

"_You alright?" Noticing the body language Yami stood._

"_No, I'm not...gosh..." Yugi stared down at himself, "I'm covered in blood and I...I..." he gulped, shaking his head, "I just slew an army of Raiders single-handily. Look at me, I'm a...mess." He tugged at his ruined clothing. Yami reached out, grabbing his hands, holding them at his sides._

"_You just need a good wash," He whispered, tugging apart the young man's vest to pull it off his wiry shoulders. _

_Yugi winced, "You don't want to look...look at me right now Yami. Raider wounds aren't pretty..."_

"_Trust me, Yugi-."_

_Yugi blew a raspberry, "What are you going to wash me with, we're in a dream world-."_

"_There is a fountain," Yami motioned across the now complete garden, "You and Sol used to bath in it, I recall, after you'd return home from a kill. Do you remember?"_

_Yugi dipped his head, giving a weak smile, "yes...I remember. I loved this place," he peered up, glancing around the garden. With a deep breath he breathed in the sweet, untouched scents of the between world. "You made this place for me because I missed my home. You always tried to make sure I was happy..."_

_A hand touched his cheek, rubbing at the grime and blood. Yugi bent into the large, rough fingers, finally glad he could truthfully feel the texture of the skin and the coolness of the touch. Yami was cold, so beautifully, wonderfully freezing while his body, his dragon body was hot like the fire he contained._

"_You gave me your eyes, Yugi...you have me your life-span, you gave me your people's technology so that my people could live."_

_Yugi laughed softly, "And you gave me half of your soul, you let me know what it felt like to love, to be human. Yami...that is worth more than anything to me!" he bit his lips._

"_I know." Yami smirked, "I know." He took the humanoid dragons hand, tugging him down the hill side, "come on, we'd best hurry or your family will start to wonder if you've died."_

"_You have no idea how much of a worrier Ryou is." Yugi laughed. _

"_Oh," Yami glanced back at him with a playful smile, "I have a feeling I might know..."_

_Yugi punched the knights shoulder, hard, taking off at a run down the small hill to skid in the moist grass as the young heir sped after him, neither sure where one started and the other ended._

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_Whether it was the illusion of a bird chirping at him from the trees around the fountain of carved crystal Yami wasn't sure. Surely this place in their sleep wasn't 'real' in the true sense, or maybe things did exist within it. The water was real enough. Perhaps it was another dimension all together; the left-over of an alien world, Yugi's alien world, the world he'd once missed enough for a great and mighty Pharaoh to create such an extravagant garden in its image._

_Yugi was patting dry his hair, managing rather well with only Yami's under-shirt to do the deed. Yami propped his chin on the side of the fountain, giving a long sigh._

"_Honestly, handsome, the world's already come to an end once; you don't need to bring on another Tribulation with your melancholy sighs." Yugi chucked the damp shirt at the sodden knight before shaking his mane of hair until it fuzzed around his cheeks._

"_How far do you think you are from Hedingham?" Yami glanced up at the humanoid dragon, who swung a foot up onto the fountain side to begin strapping up his knee-high leather boots. _

_Yugi blew aside his fringe, "about a week if we're slow, if we push it and travel nights as well, two, three days...? Why?"_

"_The situation here is going downhill very fast."_

_Yugi looked down at the young heir worriedly, "How so?"_

"_In one word that should explain all, Zorc." Yami didn't dare look up to see his dragon's reaction to the cursed name._

"_Zorc?" Yugi's eyes thinned as he looked up from buckling his boots. Without him realising it, his finger-nails lengthened and fangs shifted between his lip. "He killed Jii-chan...when we unearthed the Pharaoh's Tomb...but he didn't kill me..."_

"_I believe he's here in Hedingham, I don't know how. He's got the upper-hand Yugi. I'm at a loss of what to do? With so many people relying upon-."_

_Yugi pressed a finger to Yami's lips, crouching beside the knight. "Hush, Atemu. Zorc is weaker now than he has ever been, he slept for such a long time and repopulating the world with so many dragons would have taken its toll upon him..."_

"_What do you mean?"_

"_Just trust me, handsome." Yugi stood, "I saw him and he saw me, he knows I'm coming and therefore he will try to move quickly but in doing so he will make mistakes that will cost him this game."_

"_Yugi," Yami frowned, "this isn't a game...we're playing with people's lives. I have an obligation to my people and the people who've travelled to Hedingham...if they're threatened then I won't have a choice but to give myself up and the rate its going, our last Core is going to fail."_

_Closing his eyes Yugi shook his head, "Then you know what you must do."_

"_I do?"_

"_Call him out, he's got you in a cage already...better to cause him to make the move before you than to wait for the Core to fail and for your people to be threatened. If saving your people is what you wish then take the risk of being wrong." _

_The knight touched his chin in though, "If he makes the first move, then I'll know his hand."_

_Yugi nodded, "and you can plan accordingly." The humanoid dragon took a step back, "I'll come to you." Mist swelled around him, "Wait for me."_

"_Always." Yami held up his thumbs and forced a smile for the vanishing figure, at least content in his mind that one part of his life had finally turned out. "My dragon." _

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_Thats it from me folks._

_Hope you enjoyed the chapter._

_I know I'm not the best with mistakes and everything, but I at least hope its still a good enough read to enjoy a little bit._

_Sending you all my best regards._

_T.W.W_


	10. THC Book 1 Chapter 9

_Wow, I've never been so scared in my life. Um. Yeah..._

_If you could, please pray for me, I'm pretty freaked out right now. I don't know what to do, I don't know how to go on with this horrible fear hanging over me. I'm utterly terrified._

_But...it'll be okay...whatever happens, I'll...I'll be alright._

_Anyway, enjoy this update! My internet is slow since we capped so hopefully this works._

_Cheers and hugs._

_T.W.W_

**The Hedingham Chronicles**

**Book 1: Walk of Fire**

**By: T.W.W**

**Chapter 9: Aliens**

Yugi groaned aloud. He touched his aching head, feeling his hair was still wet from his bath. He rolled around and slowly sat up, feeling the warmth of a blanket over him, keeping him safe. The night was still in full swing, the sky shimmered in bright stars. Across what appeared to be their camp in the low valley, he watched a fire burn bright, flickering in the darkness. With a hiss of pain Yugi pulled himself up into a sitting position. Around the fire shadows where obvious, in the shapes of those he knew. His first reaction was Sol, but for once, he didn't need to see the boy to know he was safe. Somehow, he simply knew. He could feel the boy's heart beating through the earth.

His hand gripped at the dirt under him and blinked in confusion for a moment. He could feel everything through the earth, every movement of a growing plant, every flex of a nearby foxes muscle.

"Whoa." He gulped, touching his spinning head, "over-load."

Taking it slow he moved each muscle, only to tense at the pain within his limbs as he forced himself to stand upright. Legs like jelly for a moment, made him stop, pause, think of his movements before deliberately making the walk to the warmth of the welcoming fire and his family safe around it.

His arrival was noted the moment his figure touched the light of the fire.

Ryou's eyes touched him and in the slit second of recognition the white haired healer made a frantic movement of surprise.

"Yugi!" Ryou stood suddenly, "You shouldn't be up!"

"I'm fine Ryou," Yugi smiled with cracked lips, for the first time feeling the smile light up his face as if he meant it.

Ryou seemed to stagger backwards in shock at the warmth of the radiating expression that his usually stern and dark friend gave as he wandered towards the group, wrapped in a blanket around his thin shoulders.

Yugi spied Sol sleeping soundly with Puff wrapped around him like a blanket, the shadow-dragon's triangular head rising every now and then to glance around the camp as if watching for something before dropping back to rest beside the young boy's chest. Kneeling Yugi brushed the shadow-dragons neck, making the group stair at him in fright.

"Er..." Joey shuffled, "Yugi...um...the Raiders are um..."

"All gone, I know." Yugi raised his head, "I killed them all, seemed the better idea than killing you all again." Yugi felt his eyes linger upon Kala.

"Again?" Malik spluttered.

"Long story." Yugi shrugged and seated himself upon a rock. "Hello Aang." He flicked his gaze over the young monk, "it's been a very long time since we've meet."

"Indeed my brother, it has been. I'm glad to see you remember me now." Aang dipped his head.

"B...bro...brother?" Joey spoke up again, "okay, whoa, what the heck is going on? Yugi, you just petted a dragon."

"I can pick it up too if you like." Yugi smirked in amusement towards his freaked out friend.

Joey pulled away, making a cross sign with his hands, "you're not Yugi."

"Oh, I am very much Yugi, in fact, I'm more Yugi than I have ever been."

Aang looked between them all and raised his eyebrows at the confused expressions. He smiled and gave a sudden laugh that caused them all to look in his direction. "Really...none of you remembered, though somehow I am glad you do not, it almost means a resetting of the world." The young monk looked across the dark horizon in a silent, thoughtful manner.

Yugi crouched low beside the fire, staring at the intense flames. Slowly he reached out a hand, causing Ryou to jerk forward and yet Malik snagged the albino's wrist, stopping him as they watched Yugi insert his hand into the heat. He played with the flames, bending a picking up a red hot coal, crunching it between his fingers.

"Holy...heck..." Joey gulped as Yugi pulled out of the flames, still holding the burning coal, he threw it high, catching it, before letting it drop to the ground and with his bare foot put it out in the dirt.

"I remember." He glanced to Aang. "You are like me and Ryou, you're an Elder...of the Air-Benders. We tried to track you down for generations but never could find your clan. You were sent to Earth too...as punishment."

"We're nomads of the wind; we make sure we're never seen just as the air itself is never seen." Aang shrugged, "and yes, I am an Ancient One, you are my fellow dragons of our high status." He included Ryou in the stare. "My brothers...or sisters...depends on how you look at us. In some cultures we are seen as females, in others we are seen as males but we're not really either of the other. We are of our own status. We are Elders."

Yugi smiled into the fire. "Here at the dawn, here at the end."

"In some manner." Aang nodded. "Our race are aliens to this planet but we have formed a bond with it, for that is how we survive, as Elders, we bonded each with a element and became the embodiment of that symbol."

Yugi raised an eyebrow, "your clan took care of recording our history."

"Yup!" Aang grinned wildly, "that's my job! The overseer of history."

"Er..." Ryou held up a hand, "what's going on? Yugi?"

Yugi smiled towards Ryou, "Ryou...I'm not human-."

"Oh lord, you hit your head didn't you." Ryou panicked, "you've finally gone raving mad."

Yugi shrugged his shoulders, "I'm fine Ryou...you're not human either. How else would you be able to use the Ring in the manner you do? Haven't you ever felt different?"

"All the damned time, doesn't mean I'm not human."

"Well, you're not." Aang added. "All of you, apart from Kala and Sol, are dragons."

"Getta-town." Joey covered his ears, "I'm not listening!"

Malik's hand lingered upon the Rod slung across his back, the golden metal shimmered at his touch. He raised his head, "go on." He motioned to Aang.

Aang nodded. "Though the Elders of the other elements have long since departed from this world, their off-spring remain and many can be just as powerful as those who birthed them into existence." Aang stood, pointing to Malik, "You are a dragon of Earth, one of the Alpha dragons who found sanctuary in the Pharaoh's court, you became bonded with the Pharaoh's female Priestess ." The young monk motioned to Kala beside him. "You gave her your eyes and she half of her human soul."

Malik scrubbed at his face, burrowing into his knees, "man...man...I knew this would be intense, but this is not what my Dad told me my people where hiding! So the Pharaoh exists..."

Kala bent into his shoulder, hugging him carefully, yet she didn't mutter a word.

Yugi grinned, "he does, of that I can assure you."

Malik glanced to his friend to see the smile he wore. "You're telling me my father was right? My people are decedents from an ancient race of people who lived in the sky with a great immortal king? And I'm one of his Court?"

"You wouldn't have that Item if it wasn't the case." Aang added. Malik glanced to him and snorted, shaking his head and looking away.

Aang flicked his gaze to Joey.

The American shuffled backwards slightly, eyes widening, "oh no...I am so not involved in this?"

"Why else would you be in this group is you were not involved." Aang smiled, "my people have made sure everything fell into place. We are of the wind, we can effect what we wish with a simple change of the weather. You where struck in a rain-storm when Yugi Motou found you in London, had that rainstorm never rained you out, you would moved on and never met Yugi."

"How...do you know that?" Joey spluttered.

"I know that you had a sister, that you think she died in your arms that day..."

Joey bit his lips, shaking his head.

Aang continued, "I also know that she is still very much alive, married now, to a young Knight in Hedingham."

"My little sis is alive?" Joey choked out, "but...but..."

"Yup." Aang smiled.

"Is she a dragon too?"

"No." Aang shook his head, "only those born with the genetic marker that activates when they come in contact with the Item that holds an Atlantis crystal are a dragon of old."

"So I am?" Joey bit his lips, mumbling between them.

"You are Wood."

"Wood, what a lame element!" Joey shouted, pointing to Yugi, "He gets to be fire!"

"And he is the Eldest of us all because he learnt to never consider himself weak. He also bears the greatest of burdens in the strength and power that he carries." Aang snapped, "Wood is a might you must never think is weak, Joey Wheeler! Dragons have their places, their roles and must never break their cycles...we destroyed ourselves by not playing our part in the creation of this beautiful world which is now in ruins. We became stupid beasts, only few of us...like yourself and Malik, still kept enough intelligence to be considered acceptable to a bond with a human."

"This is yours." Aang threw something at the blond. It shined gold in the fire light. Ryou gasped as Joey caught it, staring at it oddly. Everyone bent closer to have a look at the object their friend held.

"The Holy Grail." Ryou whispered in disbelief. "Oh lord, if only my Father was here." The young healer touched his chest in delight.

Joey glanced slowly towards him with a pulled face, "you want it?"

"Heck no," Ryou choked, "you can keep it, I've got enough trouble with the Ring."

"I can't keep this." Joey spluttered towards Aang, the young monk continued to smirk happily at the gathering around him. Only Yugi seemed to be wearing a smile of silent, peaceful understanding, enough to nerve his friends.

"Yes you can."

"I can't be a dragon." Joey denied flatly.

"Yes you can. You come from a long line of very prestigious dragons; your ancestor Elder was the Red eyes Black Dragon." Aang shrugged his shoulder as he played a stick into the fire.

"The first time we meet," Yugi added, "you tried to kill me."

Joey glanced towards Yugi, "I did? I wouldn't do that Yug, you're like my best friend."

"I killed your Elder, therefore you had to seek revenge, its only dragon nature."

Joey sighed, rubbing a hand through his hair as he gaze at the golden Grail in his lap, "what the heck am I supposed to do with it, if this is all real?" He eyed Yugi, "cause I ain't buying it pip-squeak. You've just killed an army of Raiders and wake up without a brain."

"Okay, okay," Malik waved his hands, "say this is all real," he glanced around the darkness of the early morning night, "and my father wasn't just a lunatic...how does it work? Why are we elements? What am I?"

"Earth." Aang tipped himself slightly to one side, "and your sister also lives."

"What?" The Egyptian stood in a sudden flurry of surprise, "where? Tell me?" The hope shone in his gaze for a moment as he twisted around, "I lost her...in the Airport...she can't be alive. A dragon...destroyed the Airport..."

"Oh, she is alive, In Hedingham. She's the healer there. As for why we're elements, that is what we attached ourselves so when he came here from across the stars." Aang reached out a hand to the heavens, smiling in whimsical memories. He shifted his attention back the group around the camp fire, tipping his head to one side.

"It works something like this," the young monk frowned in thought before launching into a bard sounding voice, "Air feeds Wood (and can also feed Fire), Wood supplies Fire, Fire creates Earth, Earth bears Metal, Metal carries Water and Water nourishes Wood."

He gazed at their bland faces and sighed, "Each element can help the other but they can also destroy each other, as has happened to result in this world..." The young monk stood, making a sad motion with his thin body as he walked around the fire. "Listen carefully to me, alright, 'Air destroys Wood, Wood parts Earth, Earth absorbs or blocks Water, Water quenches Fire, Fire melts Metal, Metal chops Wood-."

"There are hundreds of different various to that." Ryou pulled a face in frustration.  
"I'm giving you the ones I can." Aang laughed, "and yes, there is, you always said that to me. There is also, Wood absorbs Water, Water rusts Metal, Metal breaks up Earth, Earth smothers Fire, Fire burns Wood."

Malik nodded slowly, "makes sense."

"Doesn't to me." Joey snorted.

"That's because you're thick." The Egyptian shot a glare towards the blond American.

"I am not-."

"Oh quit it you to," Kala snapped, "Shut up and listen to Aang. Go on Aang." She looked in the monk's direction. Aang inclined his head towards her in thankfulness. He held up a hand, his expression dropping into a dark frown in that brief moment.

The fire-light caused the shadows of his features to appear oddly stark and sad, as if recalling something he wished not to speak of.

"There is one that overrides all these and can only be defeated by Fire. It is an element that I have not mentioned because it is a negative; it is what is left if you take everything away."

"Darkness." Yugi tipped his head up, "Shadows, Nothingness, the sorrow, the anger, the pain of a heart broken, of a mind cracked. Darkness of the deepest despair can only be brightened by the brightest of lights."

"Yes," Aang nodded, "and you are that light, you have always been."

"His name is Zorc." With a twist Yugi turned to Ryou, "our brother, another Elder, we saw him at the monastery, he attacked it...and brought the Raiders."

Ryou's eyes widened slightly, his mind flickering back to the rage of shadows they'd all witnessed rise up from the earth. He cringed in horror, shaking his head as he bowed it into his lap, "no...no..." He hissed, clutching at the Ring, speaking something he was surprised he heard coming from his own mouth, "Heba you're lying, he can't be back." It was a blunt, confusing denial, and Ryou blinked in confusion, suddenly knowing things he hadn't known before.

"He is." Yugi whispered, touching his friends shoulder gently, "I'm sorry Ryu, he rose again when Grandpa and I went into the Pharaoh's Tomb, he was waiting for us."

"Why did it...he...or...whatever attack the Monastery." Malik frowned, "to get at you?" He glared to Yugi, slightly confused to see in the pre-dawn light, the young man's hair shimmering a flicker of fire as he twisted in the Egyptian's direction.

"I've thought about it, and I don't think he knew we were there...he was trying to get the egg Sol had found."

"What?" Joey looked down at Sol, "why on earth would a freaky shadowy creature of hell want a dragon egg."

Yugi thinned his lips as Sol twitched, indicating he'd been wake most of the adults conversation. Slowly the boy sat up, rubbing sleep from his eyes before feeling Puff's still sleeping from. The shadowy dragon purred contently, rolling onto its stomach to be itched.

"Puff is darkness." Sol whispered, "Other-Dad said Puff is a new Ancient One for the Shadow-dragons."

"That's impossible," Aang whispered, "you can't have two Elders in the same time period. The balance will be upset."

"Oh," Yugi inclined his head towards the monk, "Don't worry, it won't be for long. I have every intention of killing that foul beast."

Aang grinned suddenly, the wild expression enhanced by the fangs poking from his lips. "Bring the fire."

Waving a hand at the flames Yugi watched as the danced, twirling around his fingers for a show as the others looked on. Their young protectors face alight with sadistic glee for a long, drawn out flash.

They had no doubts in their minds that a beast lurked within the thin, lethal body.

"Indeed, bring the fire I shall."

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Yugi woke.

He hadn't dreamed, therefore Yami must not have been asleep. Yet that was not what had awakened him. It had been declared more sleep was in order, by their resident annoying healer, Ryou. Yugi found he hadn't debated his friend as much as should have, considering his wounded side burned and he'd fallen asleep while Ryou was tending to the wounds he'd suffered from the Raiders.

Something told him now, in the bright light of the new day, that something was wrong. His new senses, as untamed as they were, as unusual as the sensation of being able to feel things he'd never felt was, he realised after considerable thought that he could no longer feel Sol's heart beat.

He could feel everyone else but not his son.

With a shout Yugi wrenched himself upward and out of his makeshift bed, giving a scream.

"SOLOMON!"

In a moment the camp was alive.

Yugi had grabbed his belt, linked around his belt and ran with Joey not far behind. Both pelted down the side of the small rise, into the grove of trees that encaged the small gully. With a hop and skip Yugi twisted past rocks, eyes wild in search, frantic and frightened with disbelief that anything, something, had happened to his child.

Now, of all the times, now, when everything was finally slotting into place.

Malik appeared, the Egyptian man was painting heavily form the run.

Yugi felt his arm grabbed.

"Yugi!"

Earth from above shifted, dribbling down the gully side as a figure appeared in the shadows.

Joey's rifle clicked, but it did not fire.

Indeed, none of them moved though Yugi was sure he heard Kala breathe in sharply but he couldn't have cared less about the woman in that present moment, nor even Ryou's awkward landing approach.

His eyes were glued upon the Raider that moved like a normal human towards them. The expression upon the creatures face said intelligence and Yugi sensed an eerie cringe run through his limbs at the sight of clarity and understanding in the Raider's eyes.

It stopped in front of them, without fear of the rifle Joey held, and spoke.

"A gift, so that you know I control what I wish to control. Humans, brother dearest, are weak when their minds are frail...I have so many bodies now and each can do such interesting things. For you."

The Raider leered, holding out a limp body by the neck.

Yugi trembled, covering his mouth at the sight of the Sol's mutilated face, almost unrecognisable but for his clothing. Nothing in the humanoid dragon's body worked. He stood in shock, not even finding he could care that the Raider had spoken, that it meant Zorc had an army.

Joey's rifle made the shot and the Raider staggered in agony, all intelligence left its face in that split moment. Indicating whatever presence that had held it captive was suddenly gone.

The blond reloaded, ready to fire again, aiming for the head but before he managed to shot, Ryou had smashed a spear of ice through the radiation crazed humans chest, slamming the creature back into a near-by tree.

The healer was panting, tears flickering around his face as the water floated in the manner of his hair that whipped like silver rays. The tears iced into blades, shooting into the Raider like continuing gun-fire until the beast was nothing but a pile of lifeless flesh. Malik took the moment to grab the young lord, holding him tightly, whispering affection to his friend.

"Ryou...you've killed him, you've killed him, you can stop."

Ryou breathed in sharply. "No...no...Solomon."

Every head turned slowly in Yugi's direction. The young humanoid dragon had dropped in the green grass beside Sol's tiny form, simply slumped in a heap of blood. The air was chilled, the sun barely making a silver of light through the trees to light the scene as Yugi bent forward and gathered up the tiny child's body into his arms.

He choked back a sob.

Ryou ran suddenly, landing on his knees beside Yugi. He swelled up water to begin healing but allowed it to drop away the moment he saw the uselessness in the act. There was no bringing the dead back to life, not even his Ring could do such a deed, nor all his energies combined.

"I'm sorry...Yugi...I'm so sorry." Ryou rubbed at Sol's bloodied arms. "I can't..."

Yugi bent his shoulders in weak submission, his lips spreading into a soft, hollow moan. He started rubbing at the torn skin of the boy's face, ignoring the blood and the sticky remains of what had once been the boy's skin and eyes.

"No, no...come on baby, wake up, wake up Solomon. Please, please, please." Rocking back and forth Yugi held the child's bloodied body closer, touching the ruined, cut cheeks stained with crimson liquid dribbling from his sliced out eye sockets and skinned skull.

Ryou sat back, hiding his head in his bloodied hands to turn away from the sight of the young man hugging the obviously dead, mutilated child.

The healer looked towards the others, their silent, pale faces reflecting sorrow and confusion that such a happening had even accrued.

"Go." Yugi shouted, "leave me alone! Just go! Please..." He bowed, "just leave me be...let me stay with him, just for awhile..."

Ryou stood and grabbed Joey by the arm. "Let's go."

"But we can't-."

"We're leaving." Ryou snapped, "he needs to be alone, Joey."

With a lingering look back in the direction of their curled up leader, Ryou walked away, body still unable to stop the shakes that trembled through his limbs. The healer glanced at his finger tips, iced over with thin, blade like claws formed of sweat from his own body. He'd never used his abilities with the intent to kill, he'd never known he could.

Until now.

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It almost felt like coming down from a high, waking up the way he did from the dream-world. His body had a shake, his skin felt on fire. He wanted his dragon, the other half of his soul, here and now , he needed to be whole.

Yami hoisted himself up and out of his bed. It was still night. For a moment he sat on the edge of the mattress, staring dumbly at the dark wall. His shoulders twitched and he raised his hands, purely clean from the clear, cool water of the fountain in the dream-world.

His eyes softened and a tear of relief dribbled down his cheek. His dragon remembered. All of it had been true. They here the same soul, he wasn't insane, Zorc did exist, dragons were intelligent, life had meaning.

He was a Pharaoh incarnate.

"Thank...you..." He whispered to the air, "thank you..."

"Er...Temmy?" Bakura's deep voice spoke up from the white haired knight's dark bed.

Yami noted the shift of blankets as Bakura slowly sat up. "What are you doing?"

Yami gulped, "He remembered." The young heir tipped his head up, a wiry smile across his cheeks.

Bakura raised an eyebrow, "He did? Really? Is he coming here?"

"Yes."

With a whoop Bakura bumped his fist in the air before he propelled himself up and out of bed. "Come on, I feel like celebrating!"

"Felix, it's five in the morning-."

"All the more reason to raid the nice, warm muffins in the kitchens all freshly cooked for this morning's breakfast! Think about it, this could be our last chance."

The young heir poked up his eyebrow at his friend, "You saying something might happen?"

"My guts just complaining. Come on." Bakura threw aside his blankets, standing and grabbing for pants and shirt. He scrambled for his shoes before making a glare at Yami.

"You coming?"

Yami spread a hand through his hair. "Sorry...my...chest is feeling so tight." He rose and smiled in the dim light, "whatever happens, at least I know he remembers."

Together the two knights slid their way through the dark corridors of the silent Keep, deeper underground to the living chambers and across the great hall to the kitchens. The smell that swept from the doors was a welcome treat to their stomachs. Yami felt his own clench tight, though he doubted in truth that it had anything to do with food.

Bakura motioned to Yami, "wait there, I'll sneak in and grab something for us both."

Yami nodded. He turned to the milk table, the warm broth already being heated for the morning influx of breakfast comers. He poured a large mug and sipped contently and eased down into a seat. The great hall felt so peaceful at night, the darkness pieced only by the light of torches placed upon even pillars that held up the high, carved out ceiling. His life before Tribulation had been one of following his father for business, when the Dragons had vaporised cities across the globe and the world leaders had polluted what was left with nuclear radiation his father had been ready with Hedingham. It had been built as if the old man had known of the future to come, simply because his son had been born in a tomb of another Pharaoh.

Suddenly his head was smacked firmly over the back. He snapped around, spying the blond hair and a figure he knew well.

"Mai?" Yami frowned and placed down his mug of milk. The young woman moved away in a swift shift of her long dress. Without a word she vanished out a door from the great hall.

"Wait...Mai!" Searching for Bakura Yami gritted his teeth in frustration at the void of the knight and slammed down his mug. His legs shoved back his chair and he stood, pursuing Mai into the dark corridors.

What was she doing up this early in the morning? Kitchen duties didn't come in for at least another half our and Mai was never one for kitchen duties. She wanted his attention, that was for sure, with all the hitting she did of his poor abused skull.

The corridor was dark yet he heard the clip, clipping of her shoes upon the stonework. Shuffling around for a wall torch Yami found a candle and struggled to light it with the matches beside it.

"Mai?" He called out as he lit a match, "Mai! What is wrong? Are you hurt? Has someone done something to you...Mai, please..."

His voice paused as he sensed the presence behind him and he turned slowly.

The candle flickered, just for a moment, enough for him to see the two shadows she bore as a knife slashed downward. The light died away in his grasp. He heard the candle drop to the floor. The knife pinged against the wall behind him, a cementer from his ear.

"Mai...no! Stop..." He fought, using a foot to kick back before driving a hand up and around. He hated the thought of striking her, but it hit and he felt her collapse. Struggling Yami pulled her into his arms, feeling for any sign of injury but there was no blood. He shifted on his feet and made a quick beeline for the nearest corridor exit, knowing the place he had to go.

Isis's healing chamber's door was unlocked. Balancing Mai in his arms Yami kicked it with a foot. It squeaked as it opened and the warmth of a blazing fire engulfed him. Bearing the woman in Yami found the nearest bed and slid the limp body onto it. He worriedly touched the young woman's face, stroking her soft, flushed cheeks in concern.

"Mai..." He choked, "I'm so sorry...I'm sorry I didn't see what you were trying to tell me..."

The sound of a clay bowl shattering upon the stone floor startled the young heir. He twisted on his heels to see Isis standing a meter or so from the bed, her eyes staring at Mai in wide horror. The Egyptian healer held up a hand and made a small symbol as if warding off some-evil. Then slowly her eyes trained upon him and Yami gulped back saliva down his parched throat, wondering what he was supposed to say.

"My lord Pharaoh." She said it for him. "Thank goodness you are alive..."

He didn't quite know how to react with such a comment thrown into his lap. Yami gulped.

"How...long have you known...how...I mean...how do you know who I am?" The young heir stared at her in confusion.

Isis bowed her head for a brief moment before looking back up. Yami stepped away in shock at the sight of the healers left eye. It wasn't a trick of the candle light, even if he saw it only for a minute, a golden eye in the place of a normal one. Something changed and the image vanished, leaving a normal looking Isis in front of him. Her beautiful figure, bountiful and elegant remained the same, but something was different. She looked less human, not noticeably so, but it was there, like the trick of the eye.

She bowed, long silken hair, raven black and smooth shimmered down her shoulders at the moment.

"My lord, since the day I saw you. I am your humble servant."

"You're a dragon..." Yami choked.

"In part, yes I am, but I am without my human-half, therefore I cannot fully activate my truest of forms. I am sorry, my lord...I am but a humble healer."

"Don't be sorry." Yami gulped, "thank you." He grabbed her scarred hands, "thank you...for being here. Please, keep Mai here, don't let her out." The young knight twisted on his heels, running to the door.

Isis called out, "Please, milord, be careful!"

"I'm afraid it's gone beyond that..." Yami turned to face the healers pale face, "I no longer have a choice. Zorc has me. I've lost this round."

Part of him screamed at him to find Bakura before he did anything rash and yet another part of him said not to, to leave the white knight as a wild-card instead. He had to confront this situation on his own. It all slotted together so easily now, in his mind, and he couldn't believe he hadn't seen it before. Then again, five thousand years ago when it had first all begun, he hadn't seen it then and it had cost him his life and the life of his empire.

This time, the world around him was already in ruins, but he had to live. He had to live for Yugi and for Yugi's loved ones as well as his own community. Running up a flight of stairs, passing windows and seeing the light of a new-dawn reflect off the walls, Yami pounded his way to his father's chambers.

He hoped he was wrong.

But he couldn't have been.

It made sense. Someone inside, who knew of Mokuba's robotic arms and the crystal slivers that allowed the young boy conscious control of the limbs, had taken them from Seto's lair. No one could enter Seto's lair unknown unless they were either Seto himself or the Earl.

Yami cringed at the thought.

He thumped into the large wooden door into the office. Pressing his cheek to the smooth, old wood. A tear dribbled down his cheek, catching on the unshaven hairs he hadn't bothered to clean from his chin. Plus, Yugi had liked the feel of them, Yugi had liked everything, Yugi's smile made it easier to grip the handle and shove it down. Yugi's voice told him to open the door, to face the fire within and so he did.

The door open inward and a whiff of air escaped with a hiss as Yami stepped his way into the warmth of the chamber. To one side Yami spied Tristan and Duke, standing by the large windows. Yami thinned his lips but ignored the presence of the two knights. Instead he walked his way carefully over the rug to the office desk his father sat behind, scribbling at paper.

"Father?" Yami inquired, finding himself slightly amused that he didn't choke on the word.

Atum Amir glanced up. The old man blinked under his spectacles.

"Atemu? What on earth are you doing up so early! Oh my son, are you worried...don't be, we'll figure this all out." The Earl stood, placing down his quill pen and rounding the desk to touch Yami's shoulder.

The young knight breathed out deeply.

"You are not my father." He spoke directly into the man's face. "You are not my father." He repeated, a cold chill spread down his spine as the loving look in the man's gaze dulled into a stoned expression, void of all emotion.

"I wondered how long it would take for you to realise he wasn't your father." Pegasus's hollow, aristocratic tone chimed aloud.

Yami tensed at the voice from behind but continued to stare ahead at his father's now placid face.

"Bakura made a point that my father and I were not fighting. We always fight Pegasus, even about the bloody weather..." Yami whispered.

"Hmp..." A snort was puffed into the air, "well, how was I supposed to know that small bit of information. I don't come to Hedingham often enough do I..."

Yami gritted his teeth, "you...vile...how...how dare you."

Someone touched his shoulder and Yami tensed as a hot breath tickled his ear.

"Oh but Yami-boy...I do dare."

Cringing as the hand on his shoulder slid down his back Yami remained motionless, trying to focus upon his father's face instead of the hand that explored freely.

"Did you know..." Pegasus brushed a finger through the young heir's hair in a playful manner, "he wanted to kill you when you where first born...the Pharaoh...the human who cursed himself and the rest of humanity by falling in love with an alien. What a filth he must have seen his own son as..."

Yami shivered, the voice close to his ear, breathing heavily against his skin. He kept his eyes averted from the presence of the older knight.

He noticed a single tear had trickled its way down his father's cheek. Yami's chest tightened at the sight. His father could hear every word, see everything, but his body was useless and under control. The pain was there, in his eyes and Yami nodded, wishing beyond hope that his father could read his own silent eyes. The love he hoped reflected within them.

"My father loves me." Yami glared around at Pegasus. "I am his son, in this life, I am his son! He loves me."

"Love." Pegasus snorted, "A pathetic human emotion, something a soul gives you...you really are such interesting creatures." The knight gave a chortle and Yami cringed at the sound that echoed in the office.

"You're right," Yami gulped, "I am a pathetic human with pathetic human emotions and I do love...to love is to be human, to hate is to be human. I am human."

"Oh, I know that only too well...What do you think Heba came here for? This wretched planet means nothing to us! We were the rulers of stars!" The knight swung his arms around in spited joy. "No, no...Heba and I...we were banished here for war crimes, Ryu too...in the end...this prison with such...disgusting creatures inhabiting it. Oh but Heba liked you, he saved this planet from our kind because he thought you little...humans were worth it. He slaughtered so many just to save a little bunch of useless ants and I thought he had the same agenda as I. Turns out, he wanted what you had...emotions...a soul...how...ridiculous! We don't need such useless things to be gods!"

Yami spoke softly, "But you yourself, Zorc, attach yourself to a pathetic human, you must be sensing emotions right now-."

"I HAVE TO LIVE IN THIS SHELL! I am a shadow! I NEED ENEGRY." Pegasus roared, "And plus, you're useful for things, with enough of you under my wings I might even be able to pay back the Eldership for banishing me here in the first place. Slaves is all you're good for!"

"You destroyed my world when you arose," Yami snarled.

"Blame Heba for that, he's the one who woke me up and all I had to do was find the lost eggs, hatch a few females and...start the chain again. My race have one flaw, it is our intelligence that give us our abilities but without constant stimulus from Elders we grow dumb like beasts. Heba never was able to control his pack very well...not that that was his problem, no...his problem was deeper than that wasn't it. Poor Heba, forced to watch his own clan kill what he most desired to save. How...disgusting he was..."

"Don't speak of him like that!" Yami snapped.

"Oh, silly little human, you don't need to protect Heba...he'll die when you do, just like last time...he didn't last very long without you, you know." Pegasus turned away, raising a hand. Yami sensed Duke's movement beside him and reacted to it, moving away, grabbing a chair and shoving it upwards. Duke's blade shattered the wood. Yami ducked as another swing came from behind, Tristan knocking him flat with a well aimed kick. The young heir struggled, grabbing whatever he could to shield himself from the onslaught.

Too late.

Another chair shattered.

He swung the leg, knocking back Tristan only to counteract another move from Duke. Blood splattered as his arm was sliced.

He knew he was too late to make a defensive move as he wrenched down his wounded arm. Pegasus had to know, his knights were hand-picked by himself because he had never been able to foresee their actions in a fight.

Tristan grabbed his head. Yami felt it wrenched backwards and he coked from the movement.

He had no weapon, no shield and no dragon.

"Yugi, I'm sorry." He whispered.

The killing blow from Duke never made it. He heard the grunt of pain, but it wasn't his own. As he slowly opened his eyes Yami stared upward into the tear filled eyes of Atum Amir. The Earl of Hedingham was gripping a blade through his chest, the blood dribbling over his startled and confused son.

"Papa?" Yami gasped, "No! Papa!" He grabbed the man's shoulders as Atum slumped forward, wheezing between lips.

"I'm sorry...Atemu..."

"Papa!" Yami held up the heavier man's weight.

"I love you, don't let him tell you otherwise." Atum crumbled.

Yami felt shadows swell around his ankles and arms, slamming him to his knees but he barely felt the impact, his body numb with shock.

His father, the man he had loved, admired and fought with every step of the way was dead.

The door to the office burst open.


	11. THC Book 1 Chapter 10

_Spot the quote from Yugioh..._

**The Hedingham Chronicles**

**Book 1: Walk of Fire**

**By: T.W.W**

**Chapter 10: Those defining moments**

The sunlight played through the canopy. Yugi could feel it against his slumped shoulders but it was cold. It no longer felt warm; it was no longer a comfort. Indeed, the sun mocked him with its happy colours and it bright glow, daring to touch his son's dead body in the manner it did, as if nothing had ever happened.

How dare it.

Yugi felt a snarl slip between his lips but it died down as the sun shifted behind a cloud and everything returned to that hue of grey he so desired to see. Through the shifting darkness over the grove he heard another low, meowing growl of a predator that he'd known had been watching.

Puff was stalking between the trees. The dragon had sniffed at the dead Raider, burned its remains with some kind of acid from its fangs before it had curled up and looked on in despair.

Somehow, Yugi sensed, it knew to stay well away for a time.

But now the small dragon approached slowly in the shadows where it lived, in an almost dragging manner, shadows flickering around its claws.

Yugi felt its breath on his shoulder it nudged him gently, making soft, almost kittenish sounds of despair as if wanting to show that it too was in great grief.

He sunk lower, pressing into Sol's chest, "why..." He trembled, "why would you give him back to me only to take him away again!" He spat the words out, "why must you keep killing him. He's just a child! My child...why don't you take me instead...what do you want from me? I'll keep bending time! I'll bring him back!" He shouted, pounding a fist into the earth. The pyramid around his neck shimmered, burning into his skin, forming blisters as he wept tears of hot liquid that scorched the skin of his cheeks in painful lines.

It died away, the rage, the light, fading back into the pyramid as Yugi curled up tighter, sobbing. "Why aren't you letting me...please...let me bring him back..." He begged painfully, "Atemu...let me bring him back..."

Puff pressed its chin onto Sol's chest, letting the boy's blue crystal necklace slip from its jaw onto his bloodied shirt. Yugi stared at it for a moment before reaching forward, touching it with a finger, knowing suddenly where it was familiar from. It hadn't been a silly little consequence the boy had stumbled upon the oddly shaped stone after all.

Atlantis was calling to them even now.

Sol of that time, his grandfather, the son of his first embodiment, had worn one. These strange beautiful rocks were the power sources of an ancient civilisation he'd helped build into a mighty Empire.

"Because I became half a human." Yugi gripped the crystal, "I shared my life with Atemu...he feels my pain as I feel his pain...we are bonded..."

Yugi stiffened, the thought swelling through his limbs, making him freeze in realisation until he shouted aloud.

"Puff! Bond with him!" He grabbed the shadow dragon, speaking the ancient language that slipped easily from his lips, "give him your eyes...please...Puff! Please. Please baby, you understand me don't you, you want to protect Sol, you want to be with him forever, don't you..."

The small dragon tipped it's triangular head to one side, giving a puff of shadows from it's nostrils and Yugi smiled suddenly, "...you do understand me don't you, you've always understood me." He gave a sob, "I've been such an idiot." Holding Sol tighter Yugi curled up, "I'm sorry Sol, I'm so sorry...please forgive me, forgive me...you where right, baby, you were right."

Puff made a small movement and Yugi glanced in its direction, watching as the dragon lowered itself flat onto the rocks, large white eyes watching him with the clarity and understanding of a child, like just Sol, who considered him the parent.

He reached out his fingers, rubbing the shadow dragons triangular head, closing his eyes as he recalled memories from long ago, of his own human doing the same to him.

"While my fire burns in the hearts of humans," he whispered, "so shall the Outcasts of the Eldership always have a home."

A wind flared in the trees.

The earth was at peace.

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Joey was packing the land-rover in silence, unable to sit still in his grief. The only thing he could do to keep his body from trembling was to work on moving the day forward like it was any other day. The stillness of their camp was like silent agony. He thumped their supplies into the boot and slammed down the hatch. Leaning his forehead on it, only to bite his teeth together and tense every muscle in his body.

"Damn!" He spat, smacking a hand onto the glass of the boot door.

"We were all sleeping," Ryou choked, touching his friends shoulder, "You can't blame yourself Joseph."

With a whine Joey tugged away from the healers grasp, "Tell me, if I'm some...dragon...some...great dragon from an age long past." He held up the Grail he'd tied to his belt and waved it, "Then why didn't I...or...we...stop this!"

"How could this happen?" Kala sobbed, suddenly, as if Joey's shouts released a dam under pressure. "He was a child? He would have just gone off to play in the trees. Malik...this isn't fair!"

"It never is sweetie." With a hand he tried to sooth away her tears.

"No, this isn't fair!" She shouted, standing to her feet, "None of this is fair!"

"Sweetie," Malik beseeched, "You have got to sit down, okay...you cannot work yourself up."

"Sol is dead Malik," Kala fisted her hands, "dead...dead...gone forever."

Malik caught her as her legs loosened, he held her to his chest, rocking her from side to side, closing his eyes as he listened to her painful sobs that jutted spears through his heart. He'd just begun to believe in the impossible, that maybe there was some truth to Aang's words and to Yugi's new and strange look that had glimmered with such clarity from his eyes.

Now he couldn't believe. He wanted to spit on everything his father had ever told him, shout at the dragons for destroying their world, and kill every world leader that had ever released the nuclear weapons that had warped humans into monsters.

Silence filtered in the chilled air once more. Ryou moved to the fire, pulling off a pot of boiling water, moving to pour it into tea mugs. Then he seated himself, trembling hands using the remainder of the hot water to begin cleaning the blood off his robe.

Flashes if images, of doing the same thing once before, time and time again after wars and battled slipped through his vision, making the Ring around his body feel heavier and colder. He'd called Yugi Heba, an odd name, but it felt so right on his lips, as if the language was as familiar to him as any other he knew.

Unconsciously tears began to trickle down his cheeks. Everything was wrong. Aang's smile was wrong.

The healer corked his head to one side suddenly. The sound of light foot fall made him turn. He knew Yugi's foot-steps from any distance. His chest tightened, his mind not sure what to say, how to respond to a grieving parent.

Then his jaw dropped wide.

The robe he'd been cleaning of blood slipping from his slackened hands. Beside him Aang's smile only grew, the young monk keeping his words to himself, but his smile was wide.

Joey stood to his feet in a leap, for the first time in his life unable to speak aloud in his shock. Walking towards them out of the orange hue of the radiation tainted sky, Yugi was approaching, Sol sitting in his arms, curled up tightly as though he was sound asleep but very much alive. The closer Yugi came the more apparent it became that Sol was fine, by the time Yugi reached them, his weakened smile was just that little bit brighter. He sat, without a word, letting them all stare at the beautiful child in his lap. Thick black tattoos ran around the boy's eyes, down his cheeks to trail down his bare neck and shoulders. His little naked form was curled up so tight it was almost impossible to see the remainder of the tattoos, but they where over his pale flesh like whip marks.

Yugi brought his head up, peering through his fringe. The lines of his face revealed his fatigue but his eyes glowed.

He tired to speak, choked on his words and tried again. "Puff gave up his eyes and Sol gave him half his soul. I guess it works even if you're dead, call it the magic of ancient Atlantis...or me being some super-special-awesome dragon of old."

No questions were raised; simply stumped faces that shifted into relieved expressions.

"Where is Puff?" Joey gulped back saliva, never so glad of a dragon's existence in his life. He looked around for the shadow dragon, thanking fate that Yugi hadn't killed the creature the moment it hatched. He'd not understood the reason why then, but now, he knew it had been for a reason. This reason.

Yugi brushed the tattoo's marring Sol's face and it was only then did Joey see the formations of the markings where no tattoos but in fact the scars that had been created when his skin had been torn from his cheeks and shoulders. "He's a shadow dragon Joey; made up negative space. He's living in Sol's scars where there is no skin...technically. A true bonding, and so young..." Yugi smiled weakly, "a child of the new world they truthfully are now." Yugi kissed Sol's forehead, looking around at the others staring at him in awe.

"Alright!" Malik stood suddenly, pointing to Aang, "teach me how to change into a dragon and control whatever element I am again, because this is just too freaky to not believe anymore."

Aang raised his head, giving a wiry grin as he glanced around the gathering facing the fire light, "are you all sure you want to know? You will be unlocking a past that once infused within you, you will never be able forget or take back. You will be changing your bodies forever, becoming creatures no more of flesh but of energies and elements-."

"Whatever." Joey threw up his arms, "just teach us."

Aang shrugged, "Alright...but there is only so much I can teach, the rest you'll have to learn from your memories...and Joey...until you find your human counter-part you will not be able to reach your full potential."

"What?" Joey spluttered, "but...but..."

Aang shrugged, "it is the way of a split-soul."

"What about you?" The blond denied again, "Where's your human?"

The young monk shrugged, "Zuko? Oh, he's bound to be rambling around somewhere being his usual big-headed-arrogant-self-absorbed-aristocratic lord of the sky..."

"You mean..." Yugi blinked, "your clan...they're..."

"Alive?" Aang nodded, "in a manner of speaking." His large, kind eyes turned sorrowful, "I have not given birth to any wind-dragons for many eons. We have elfin children; my clan...are of the elfin kind; neither human nor dragon."

"Elfin..." Kala whispered, her hand automatically going to her own stomach in a movement she barely registered, though Yugi noted it the moment her hand shifted. He reached out to give her a small hug around the shoulders.

"The half-casts, Kala..."

"Oh."

Yugi looked to Malik.

The Egyptian bowed his head, giving a weak chuckle. "Well, babe, look at it this way, you're damn sexy enough to make a dragon look twice so..."

"Thank you, Malik-bear." The young woman rolled her eyes in sarcasm, "my self-esteem is so much higher now." She began to wipe tears from her eyes, her fragile emotional state recovering. Yugi kissed her cheek gently before he stood to his feet and cuddled Sol closer.

One by one the others rose, beginning the day as it was a normal day amongst their ruined and destroyed world. They packed camp, like nothing had happened, like nothing was different, like they had a future.

Yugi turned in the direction of Hedingham. "Hold on, handsome, I'm coming."

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"Pardon the interruption but apparently someone left me off the guest list!" Bakura burst through the doors of the office, twirling twin blades. His quirky remark gagged in his throat at the sight laid out before him.

"Pegasus...no...no...Duke..." The white knight's blades clanged upon the floor in disbelief, staring at the slain body of the Earl sliding down Duke's broad sword.

"My God...no..." He searched franticly for Yami, seeing his friend kneeling upon the floor, held down by twirls of shadows. His face was ashen white, eyes wide at the sight of his dead father.

Bakura had no time to move and escape, the moment he sensed Pegasus's eyes settle upon him he felt the sudden weight of something grab his arms and legs to slam him onto the hard stone floor.

"Well," Pegasus smirked towards the two knights from his position perch aloft the office desk. "I was planning on beheading your father as a public display of my authority but I guess you'll just have to do now, Atemu Amir. You are, after all, loved by your people as their darling heir and protector."

"You son of a bitch," Bakura snarled, struggling against his binds, "what the hell did you do to Duke and Tristan!"

"Duke? Oh, you mean my mind slaves?" Pegasus chuckled, "they did this to themselves, got tangled up with me they did...not my only mind-slaves by the way."

Yami spat, shaking away burning tears, "you..."

"Yes, me." Pegasus grinned in victory, "me! How wonderful! Hedingham is mine, the crystals are mine...why, I even have the old Pharaoh on his knees before me. My, my...what should I make you do, kill your beloved friends?"

Yami's eyes widened in horror. "No."

He watched in fright as Pegasus pulled out a blade from his belt and twirled it in the air before kneeling down and sliding it across the knights right arm. Yami bit his lips from the hot, sneering pain that burned as blood leaked down his skin from the cut. He knew he should have felt different, a loss of control to his limbs, a submission of a sorts, but none of it came.

He was still himself, and in control of his body.

"Hmm," Pegasus pulled away, frowning darkly. "Apparently you're immune...aww...your beautiful dragon must have loved you so much! Enough to make sure you'd never have your mind taken from you. How sweet."

Pegasus's expression contorted for a moment and Yami cringed back at the sight of the skull bleeding through the skin of the old knights features. The young heir was struck suddenly over the cheek, the force of the blow knocking him across the hard floor, landing beside Bakura. He spat blood, trying to struggle upwards with trembling arms.

"What a sure shame I can't control you, that would have been so much fun." Pegasus clicked his fingers as he idly walked around the office, the eyes of the two young knights watching his every movement.

"They're still conscious you know, of every action they're bodies are doing..." He motioned towards Duke, "and soon...all those knights as well. My new army, too lead my Raiders in a storm across all the communities that will fall under my rule."

Bakura shivered, knowing the sensation, he'd lived through it in his life before. He could recall the memories of his body moving without his will, as if his shadow was ordering his limbs to move. He had slain his best friend, his lord, his master and his king...his brother in every way but blood. Now Duke was suffering the same torture that would haunt his soul for the remainder of his existence.

"You can't possibly," Yami gulped back saliva and blood, "the dragons-."

"I am Zorc," Pegasus snarled, "the most feared beast in the world!" He pointed to Yami, "all dragons bow to me!"

"No they don't." Bakura snarled, "I recall you got your arse whipped once and you crawled away like the satan you are!"

The white knight was struck hard enough to be sent across the floor. Blood dribbled from his cut cheek where a ring from Pegasus's finger split skin.

Panting heavily Pegasus turned away, making the order despite the glares from the two young knights. "Take them both down to the dungeons and lock them up with the Wizard."

Yami grunted as Tristan sized him under the arms, near lifting him from the floor like a doll. He stared at his father's corpse, unable to believe the man was dead.

"Oh," Pegasus made a small shift, "and give the new Earl of Hedingham a gift of for his succession. I think twenty lashes should do the trick..." The knight sneered with a playful wink.

Yami's eyes widened as he was dragged from the office. He was the new Earl of Hedingham, no matter how short his reign was going to be, he was now more than his father's son.

"Papa..." He whispered, "I'm sorry."

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It was okay to be stuck in a land-rover with his beloved family, but being stuck in a land-rover with his beloved family in whom all were currently discussing the truth about the existence of humanoid dragon aliens that predated the Flood, well, it was becoming slowly a living nightmare.

Yugi fought back a long yawn. His jaw tingled from the effort. They went over a high bump and he heard Joey cuss under his breath, the blond spinning the wheel to accommodate the change in terrain under their vehicle that had thus far done them well.

Right now, Malik was in a point of denial over the truth behind his people, the Tomb Keepers, who'd kept so many records through time that Yugi had to wonder if his grandfather hadn't accidently-on-purpose stumbled upon Malik's father. The Pendragon his grandfather had been must of, after-all, known about Malik's tribe if they were really an off-shoot of the survivors of Atlantis.

"You're telling me I'm my own ancestor?" Malik pointed at himself.

"Well, where else do you think your people and their ideas came from? Your children's children were the only survivors of Atlantis's fall, the elfin children you and you lovely wife bore eventually became the Tomb Keepers. Oh...the Pendragon survived as well." Aang added on an off-hand note.

"Sol." Ryou nodded, leaning forward in his seat, propping his chin upon the one in the front. "I made sure he'd get out safely, that was my task. I died protecting him." The healer glanced around the land-drover, "how strange it feels to know this body is the wrong one."

Yugi rubbed his blurry eyes to wake himself up from his self-inflicted daze. "It'll start changing soon, mine already has." Holding out a hand Yugi revealed his fingers, the length of them longer than average humans. "You know," he mused for a moment, "I'm rather looking forward to losing my male bits, means I don't have to get worried about getting kicked in the groin anymore by a particularly evil woman..." He glared in Kala's direction.

She pouted from the front seat.

"Hey, you deserved it!" She insisted.

"I did not!" Yugi refuted.

"Yes, you did!"

"I did not!"

"Yes, you did!"

"Okay, children!" Malik snapped, "shut up! Kala, you have to stop doing that to Yugi."

"What?" Kala fanned innocence.

"Kicking him." Malik leant forward in his seat, shaking his head.

"He deserved it! Little pervert."

"Shut up!"

"Hey, Sol's in hearing range." Joey kept his eyes on the rickety terrain ahead, "think about the kid okay." He offered a compromise.

Aang sighed from the back seat, "and here I was wondering how you all lived so long without your memories...obviously it's been dumb luck."

"You know, I was more thinking of my skill." Yugi scratched his chin, "but yeah, maybe it was luck."

"I don't believe in luck." Ryou snorted, folding his arms firmly over his chest and leaning back into the ruined seat behind him.

Aang laughed, "I know, you said that to me on many occasions brother...indeed...that is one of the reasons why you decided to join Heba, myself and Zorc in exile...you believed in something no one else of our kind believed."

"What?" Ryou frowned in confusion, his mind not releasing the information to him.

"A creator."

"Bummer Ryou, you're a spiritual dragon." Joey smirked from the driver's seat. "What'd they do, try and burn you for being narrow-minded?"

Ryou's eyes flickered, Aang watched him silently as the young healer drifted in deep thought. "No," he finally whispered to a silent audience, "they took away my ability to reproduce and slaughtered my clan in front of me and sent me here to this planet with Heba, Zorc and Aang to live out eternity in sorrow and mourning."

"Hence," Aang rested his head on the glass of the window beside him, "why there are no more Water-Breathers."

No one spoke much afterwards. The rumble of the land-drover trudging over the hard terrain the only sound, it was almost a comfort, Yugi sense, to know they were rolling onward, ever onward to Hedingham.

Joey suddenly spoke again, "well...that's just sad, you know. I don't know if I wanna be a Dragon, we're horrible. Yug, little man, yer hated them all yer life...well, most of it."

"I still do Joey."

"Yug, little man, yer...yer can't hate yourself!"

Yugi thinned his lips, turning back to gaze out the window at the world as it sped past. "Yes, Joey, I can and I do. What I did...before I had a human soul, even half of it...I am no better than a beast without a heart."

"Yug-."

"But I can take it...because Yami loves me, despite everything I've done. I am unconditionally loved by a human, so I forgive myself. Doesn't mean I have to like it."

"You've got weird logic Yugi." Joey shook his head but kept his eyes on the dying road ahead, they were quickly running out of rickety bits of high-way, leaving only the surface of a slowly encroaching forest wild and lose.

"Alright..." Ryou tilted his head up, tapping Yugi on the shoulder, "I ask you this, why can I recall Solomon to mind from a past-life as an ancient dragon lord and he looks exactly the same as our time Solomon...correct me if I'm wrong but you never gave birth to a biological little dragon child."

Aang laughed but quickly slapped a hand over his mouth. "Sorry."

Yugi rolled his eyes. "I think what Aang is trying to say is that I am beyond super, special, awesome." The humanoid dragon shrugged his thin shoulders, "and by my sheer will power of wishing for my grandfather to come back...I made Sol and forced myself into a scenario of finding him as a child in London, taking him on, so that the human part of me would think it all a silly little coincidence that he just happens to look like a little me, or what I guess my grandpa looked like thousands of years ago."

"He had to let himself age I guess." Ryou mused. "To be immortal...what an odd concept." The English-lord straightened suddenly, "I feel like a spot of tea! Stop the car..."

"He's right," Malik shouted from his back seat, "I've gotta go, natures calling, we've been driving for hours."

There was an odd moment of them all shuffling around to get out of the tight space before the boot was opened and Ryou went around his tea brewing while they nibbled on remains of rations.

Yugi sipped his tea. He had to admit, Ryou brewed the best tea around, even if it was tea taken from the destroyed monastery he could enjoy it with some happiness. Sol was alive.

he knew who and what he was. Pretty much the biggest question in his life had been answered. What he and his grandfather had unearthed all those years ago had been an enemy who would have escaped anyway, given time.

Earth was dead, civilisation destroyed, yes, but they still lived and he was going to make sure they lived to see another dawn and another rise of the human race.

"Yugi..."

He could feel Ryou's presence a mile away. He had to wonder how long until his healer, his most trusted best-friend in this life and the past, would connect the dots and understand with the same kind of clarity that he did. The skin of his arms prickled with Ryou's cold presence, cold like the frozen chill of winter, counteracting his heat of a flaming sun.

"Yugi...what are you going to do when we get to Hedingham?"

Always the practical Ryou. At least one of them thought things through.

"I'm going to kill Zorc." Yugi summarised simply.

"Yes...well...last time you did that it didn't work." Ryou whispered softly, a faint sadness shined in his pale brown eyes. "I remember what he did to you, Yugi, it wasn't a very pretty sight."

"Well," Yugi touched the fire arms that hung loosely around his thin hips. "This time he's not expecting me to be a human is he, he thinks I'm dead....he thinks we're all dead. I'm going to prove him wrong and drive a fat iron pole through his chest, burn him into a crisp roast and then have Malik bury him under a mountain to rot for eternity."

"That almost sounds like under-kill." Kala puffed out her cheeks.

"Humans," Aang rolled his eyes in her direction, causing the wind to ignite just slightly, enough for the group to notice the humanoid dragon was speaking, "you have such a thirst for blood."

"Ah-ah." Kala slapped her hips, "and Yugi doesn't."

"He is the protector of my race and technically this planet." Aang laughed, "he's aloud to be whatever he wishes."

"Nice." Yugi snorted, heaving Sol into his arms as the exhausted boy continued to sleep, "come on, we've got to cover more miles today...Joey, start the land-rover."

"Sure thing your lord ship." The blond chimed, "or should we call you your honour? Or maybe your royal dragon-ness?"

Yugi glared through his fringe, "another word Joey and I will show you just how much fire I can breathe, and shall I remind you, Mr. Wood-man, I trump you! I'm so strong I trump the lot of you! Move!"

"Going, going, going..." Joey scampered away.

Yugi flashed a grin, "whoo yeah, I can get to like this."

Ryou rolled his eyes, keeping his smile from his lips as he passed by Yugi, "I've been at this longer than you..." He poked out his tongue, "so there."

"Oh, and you think you know how to use the powers of your Item just because you're been at it longer?" Yugi tested.

Ryou knew the game, he smirked boyishly, "yes, I do. I healed your cute backside far more times than I care recall, Yugi Motou...so...here...in this little group, I'm king of the Items." The white haired healer waved a hand in the air as he ducked back into the land-drover.

Yugi pouted and stoutly founded his arms over his chest.

"Yeah...yeah...whatever."

"Gosh, boys....or...dragon people thingy...anyway...honestly." Kala snorted, bearing a still sleeping Sol in her arms as she stood beside Yugi's little defiant form. "No wonder you needed me around. You'd have all been bickering for days if a woman wasn't involved somewhere."

"That's my woman, by the way." Malik called out from over the land-drover. "Touch and I will bury you in a mud-slide...or...something earthy...yeah...earthy..."

Yugi grinned, reaching out and placing a finger upon Kala's arm. "I'm touching her, I'm also imagining her naked, does that count too?"

"Shut up Yugi!"

"Think I hit a nerve?" Yugi inquired.

Kala shrugged before smirking. "Kiss me and you will."

"No, I think I'll pass. He's obviously territorial." Yugi chuckled.

Kala peered through her muddle of hair hair, "and I'm waiting to see who's territorial over you." She winked, leaving Yugi momentarily confused before a faint smile touched his lips.

"You and me both..."

He started to walk back towards the land-rover, only to feel a sudden sheering pain slice through his back, enough to cause him to cry aloud and stumble. He hit the ground, panting as he was struck again. A whip lashing through the flesh of his back, the pain an immense build up until he could do nothing more than grit his teeth to cover the scream he wanted to admit.

Ryou's hands grabbed him, a soft, cool sensation spread through his limbs as he felt the healer's presence and the chill he produced naturally.

"Yugi?"

"I...I...think...its Yami..." Yugi buried his nails into the dirt. He was struck again, this time managing to curl up into Ryou's lap. The healer hugged him tightly, sensing as each whip-lash hit by the jolted movement of his friends curled up body.

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His legs couldn't keep him upright any longer and they collapsed under him. His energy was spent just trying to ward off the trembles in his limbs as they strained from being bound tight a pole. Somehow he didn't mind being slung up like a slaughtered cow, he'd have endured worse for the sake of his people.

Blood and sweat sprinkled his skin, dribbling onto the dungeon floor. His back burned, fire, no, it was like ice too. Yami blinked back tears.

The hum of the whip hissed through the air.

He cried out. Nothing could stop the cry from his lips as raw skin was torn again. Each strike was deeper than the last, ripping off more flesh. The next strike he felt stray, the thin little pieces of wire lashed his right bicep and he fought the bounds around his wrists only to end up dangling all the more.

He'd lost count on the fifth whip. His mind simply refused to work but the last one must of come somewhere, for his strung up arms where suddenly grabbed and loosened. With nothing to hold him upright Yami fell onto the hard floor in a trembling pile of arms and legs. The reaction his body had was to curl up, but he couldn't, not with his back burning as though it had been cooked. Somewhere through his blurry vision he noted who was bent over him. It was Duke, with a leer of sweet gratification across his beautiful features. Yami gulped back a mouthful of stained water as it was fed to him before he was allowed to collapse onto the cold, wet floor once more.

"I...Duke...I...know..." He reached out a hand weakly to the leaving knight, "I know it's not really...you."

Duke chuckled. "See you tomorrow, your lord-ship."

The door slid shut. He was entombed within his silent hell. Nothing in the darkness moved. His limbs were unresponsive and lax, though he could feel the blood leaking from his back like the trickle of rain. Stripped bare, whipped, bloodied and achingly alone, Yami pressed his cheek to the cold, cold stones of a dungeon floor he doubted very much had been used for such purposes in centuries.

"Bakura...I could use...one of...your idiot speeches...right about...now." Yami spoke into the thick air, wet with moister and the taste of his own coppery blood.

He drifted into mental darkness. It was such a nice, restful peace where pain didn't linger. He hated the idea in his back of his mind as he floated into unconsciousness that Yugi could have been feeling his agony. He had no idea how to block the link between their two separated halves and that thought drained him like blood that leaked out of his torn back. The last thing he wanted was for his dragon to weep like he was weeping.

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Yugi blinked. Ryou's voice was soft in his ears. Water was dribbled on his lips and his reaction was to gulp at it. It was fed him to faster until Ryou drew it away with a hush, hush sound. He sensed his friend's cold hand to his forehead. Never had he been more thankful for the chill Ryou produced naturally.

"Its alright, Joey...I think its over...just keep driving, its what he'd want."

"Dad!"

Yugi blinked again at Sol's little voice. To hear it for the first time in almost two days was a blessing and he smiled weakly, reaching out and cupping the boy's cheek.

"Solly..."

"That's not me Dad, I'm over here...that's Puff. Dad? Dad? Please wake up Dad!"

Yugi frowned in confusion; he was being shaken on the left side of his body when who he was gazing at was very much on the right side of his position within the back of the swiftly moving land-drover. He was lying in Ryou's lap; surrounded in blankets that were trying hard to keep him warm while outside the world was turning an orange hue in the cold sunset. His back ached with a stinging sensation from deep, deep under the flesh.

The boy he thought was Sol smiled suddenly, revealing a mouth full of sharp, razer teeth. The child vanished suddenly in a puff of shadows. It took Yugi a moment to realise what he'd just seen. A complete reflection of his son, like a mirror, the small shadow-dragon had projected a mirror image as his form.

Yugi managed a weak smile and glanced towards Sol. The boy beside him was gripping his hand tightly with small fingers. The sharp lashes and scars around his eyes looked more like tattoos than ever with the elder's blurred vision.

"Solly..."

"Dad!"

"It's alright...it'll be alright but I have to sleep."

"I know Dad, Uncle Ryou said that too."

"Then I'd best...do as he says."

Sol nodded and held the larger hand to his cheek, "I love you Dad."

"I love you too."

Breathing out deeply Yugi closed his eyes. Sleep came almost instantly to his exhausted mind.

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_Yami woke. For a moment he wasn't sure if he was awakening from his dream or waking into one. His surroundings shifted and he knew instantly where he was by the scents in the air and the felling of the grass under him._

_He paused._

_It wasn't grass. His head was lying on something like leather._

"_Hey..." _

_The young knight sighed into the fingers that touched his lips. "You're here handsome, it's alright..."_

"_Yugi." _

_A hand was strung through his hair, brushing away the blond locks from around his red eyes. He opened them wider to look up into Yugi's face bent over his own. The humanoid dragon was trying to smile but the edges of his lips betrayed the effort the expression took to the muscles. _

"_I know my name, Atemu Amir." Yugi joked softly. "But thank you for the reminder."_

_Yami made to speak, to smile or chide him for his impossible manners but a sob escaped instead and he curled up, only to find himself hissing in pain from the agony across his back. His finger-nails curled into the soft grass. _

_Yugi's firm grip held his shoulders. "Yami...you have to lay still, you've had at least twenty-lashes."_

"_My father." Yami coughed the words out, "he killed my father..."_

_Yugi's eyes widened and moister surrounded the edges. "No..." He whispered. He'd never, now, get the chance to meet the man he had so wanted to meet and to thank for giving Yami life. _

_Yami covered his face, the tears being released like a cascade and through his body a tremble shook him. He was weak, his stomach sick and his limbs felt cold like ice while the skin of his back burned ruthlessly. _

_His father was dead. He hadn't even said goodbye._

_Yugi tugged at his hands, pulling them from the knights face and into his lap. Yami sensed the smaller drag him closer and he accepted the offered embrace. He pressed his damp cheek to the humanoid dragons shoulder, curling up in his arms to hold himself there as though he was a child seeking the warmest of places._

_Mindful of his position Yugi soothed his lean fingers carefully over untorn, beautiful skin. Forever thankful that in their world of dreams pain was dulled; his knight could at least function slightly in their dreams, despite the torture endured. Yami grimaced, breathing out deeply as Yugi's hands stroked away the tears from his cheeks. The dragon bent to kiss his cheeks, soothing away the horrible loneliness he'd endured._

_He was looked at with gentle, sorrowful purple eyes; eyes that would have once been his own, thousands of years ago before they had traded them for souls. How could Yugi switch, he had to wonder, from a ruthless protector to a comforter in such a manner that he did. He truely had come across the most extraordinary of creatures._

"_I'm sorry," the young dragon whispered hoarsely. "Yami...I...should have...we're...we're going as fast as we can."_

_The knight smiled weakly, reaching out a hand and laying it across Yugi's chest. "I know you are. You give me hope."_

"_How long do I have?" Bending forward Yugi kissed the knight's forehead._

"_Pegasus will want to prolong the suffering, I imagine he's going to put me through more. I...I don't want to think...of what he's doing to my people."_

"_Shhh," Yugi calmed him gently, "don't think about that, you're going to need to remain as strong as possible for me. You're no use to me dead, don't you dare...don't you dare die before I get to you. Don't you dare die again!"_

"_He killed my father-."_

"_I know." Yugi touched the knights lips with his own, "Yami I know...I'm so sorry." He cooed. "I'm so sorry."_

"_He saved my life." Yami pressed his forehead to Yugi's shoulder._

"_It's what some parents do." The dragon whispered, "Because they love their children, he loved you Yami."_

"_I love you." Yami choked through a sob._

"_Would be rather impossible not to." Yugi bent his head through tears, scrubbing at the knights scalp with long clawed nails._

"_So you keep telling me." The knight smiled weakly, "but it doesn't make any difference, my dragon."_

"_Yes, I am your dragon Atemu Amir." Yugi gripped his hands, "and I am coming for you so hold on for me. Don't let go."_

"_I won't. I won't."_

"_Don't die."_

"_I won't."_

"_Because if you do, I'll die too and I'm not ready to go back to that dark place where my fire won't burn. Whatever he does to you, Yami, you...you...stay with me."_

_Yami shook his head. "Yugi, we might not have a choice in the matter. He's going to publicly execute me..."_

_The dragon's eyes widened slightly and Yami felt him shift under him to pull away in horror. "What?" Fangs slipped out and Yami grimaced at the predatory expression spreading across Yugi's soft features. The knight reached out, grabbing for Yugi's cheeks._

"_Yugi...don't...don't go there, you need to focus, don't lose yourself...you...you're still in a human-body right now. You can't damage that body while it's in such a limbo state."_

"_I can't lose you." Yugi hissed darkly, "we haven't even met and I can't lose you."_

"_You won't...Yugi...because you're too good to lose."_

_The tree above them rustled and Yugi glanced up at the branches, through to the clear blue sky of the never changing weather. His trembling hands automatically reached for the knight once more, pulling him closer._

"_Tell me..." Yugi gulped, "did you...did you ever get the chance to see the movie Titanic...you know...before Tribulation."_

_Yami smiled and slowly closed his eyes as he settled himself down into the dragon's lap, sensing the peace that had enveloped the dangerous creature beside him. "I remember it very well...Bakura...Bakura and I watched it the day before our city was attacked. Ever heard two...preteen boys...cry?"_

_Yugi gave a small laugh, surprising himself at the action. "You cried..."_

"_I sobbed like a baby." Yami smirked in recollection, "so did Bakrua...but...don't...ever tell anyone that or he'll...kill you."_

_Yugi smiled, bowing his head to rest it upon the knights cheek, "When you hear me...singing that...that song at the end...look to the sun and I'll be there."_

"_But I've never heard you sing..."_

"_You'll remember." Yugi whispered, "I use to sing you to sleep all the time, my stupid human."_

"_You're an equally stupid dragon."_

"_I know."_

"_Good."_

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"Temmy..."

Bakura's voice whispered in his ear. "Atemu...please...wake up, we haven't got a lot of time."

"Felix?" Yami tasted blood in his mouth. A shaking hand pressed something cool to his lips, cool like ice and he gladly gulped at the liquid. It was enough to wake him and he eased onto his forearms, biting back the pain that almost made him curl up in agony again.

He was still on the floor the dungeon cell, but beside him Bakura knelt. The white knight held an equally painful stance, his shoulders rigidly upright. Yami gulped, realising he wasn't the only one who'd be subjected to a good lashing.

Someone else was in the dark room and he flicked his eyes towards the faint blue glow admitting from Seto's chest. Their resident Wizard had been stripped like them both, revealing the implant with his chest and the crystal within it that kept the plane shrapnel from travelling to his heart.

Yami felt himself sigh with relief. Pegasus-Zorc hadn't taken the crystal from Seto, but for how much longer the case would be he couldn't figure.

"Hey." Yami slid onto his knees.

"You've both been out of it for awhile." Seto offered, "I tried my best on your backs...I'm afraid I don't have much on me, they...took most of my gear."

"It's alright." Yami forced a smile, "Thanks anyway."

Seto shrugged.

Yami looked back to Bakura. "Any idea what time it is?"

Bakura glanced at his wrist and frowned, "hair past a freckle."

"In other words, don't bother asking." Seto grumbled and leant back onto the surface of a grimy wall behind him. "However, if my genius mind is correct...I'd say we've been here at least most of the night...which means...my shields," the wizard perked up an eyebrow, "will fail in less than forty-eight hours, at the max, and Hedingham be smelt by every dragon in the district."

Yami gritted his teeth together. "What is Pegasus thinking?"

"Zorc...you mean?" Bakura raised an eyebrow in the dim blue light. "He took over me the last time round..."

Yami thinned his lips, "Pegasus-Zorc...I can't see him as anything else but who he controls. I don't know Zorc's true form. He is, to me, whoever he controls."

"What could he be planning," Seto sighed, "if my shields go...wouldn't that cause more trouble than good, even if he is a shadow-creature who can control humans with his toxin."  
"Your shields block more than dragons being able to smell us," Yami whispered, "they block people from entering Hedingham, like Raiders...people effected by radiation. If he can control humans with his toxin, humans...animals...maybe his point is not the dragons but making an army. The dragons have almost wiped out the human race; there are barely any of us left."

"The radiation will continue to mutate...it will eventually reach the human population." Seto frowned, "so he has to act now before humans become incompatible."

"If it's an army he wants..." Yami breathed in deeply, "then what for? What would he want to conquer? Earth is his for the taking, there is nothing left here?"

"Maybe not Earth..." Bakura whispered suddenly in thought, his red eyes waxed over as his hands loosened in his lap. Yami reached out weakly, touching his friend's thigh and giving it a squeeze.

"Felix?"

"The Dragons were not created on Earth Temmy, remember, they came here from far, far away...maybe...maybe Zorc wants to use us to fight whoever it was..."

"That put him here." Yami curled up his lip, "Heba managed to stop him the last time by sealing him underground...he died doing so...this time, we need to kill him."

Seto snorted a laugh, "and how...your royal highness do you expect us to do that? We're in a damned dungeon cell...I have a limited supply of energy left...I'll be dead in a day. You're both in no position to fight!"

"Give me a sword and I'll prove I am!" Bakura snapped.

Yami winced from the throbbing pain of his back. "I know, Seto...I know...but..." He looked to the doorway, cold and bleak the iron shielding blocked him from his people. "That door is going to open at some point and we'll be taken from here to be displayed before the people of Hedingham as fallen knights far from glory."

"And when that happens?"

"We'll look to the sun..." Yami smiled and closed his eyes in rest. "The sun..."

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Yugi frowned in his half-sleep state.

Something smelt wonderful and it was being dangled over his nose like an alluring woman. He frowned again.

"Solomon"

Said boy gave a giggled and darted away. Yugi felt the stationary land-drover give a jolt as the child jumped from the open boot. The crunch of gravel under the boy's boots made Yugi hiss in recollection of Yami's current state. His human had left him in a mess, of the truest sense of the word. He had to reach Hedingham, he had to get to Yami, he had to see his human. The drive was compulsory, he had no choice in the matter any longer, the half of the Pharaoh's soul within his own body needed to be with its other side.

Yugi struggled out of the covers he was encased in, noting that Kala was curled up beside him, still sleeping. In the front seat Joey was out to the world, head flat on the steering-wheel.

Then there was that smell. Nice, wonderful smelling bacon.

His stoumch grumbled and he made to move, only to hiss between his sharp teeth at the flare up of pain as it ripped his skin. The cry from that came out of his lips caused Kala to bolt upright and grab his arm in a impulsive action.

"Yugi!" She gasped out in her blurred state of sleep, "are you alright?"

Fighting for breath Yugi coughed. He buried his head into her chest, keeping it there as he trembled in the aftermath of the pain and concentrated on her hands in his hair. With each stroke she made he imagined she was stroking away the invisible wounds and slowly, the mental image worked and he managed a movement.

"Hey..." Kala smiled as he tugged away, "Welcome back..."

Yugi licked his dry, cracked lips. Blood leaked between the splits in the skin. Kala raised a finger and brushed moister over the abused flesh.

"Good to be back..." Yugi grimaced and looked at the sky outside. It was near morning, at least so he could see by to the hue of the dark blue sky. "What time...did we set up camp?"

"About five thirty, Malik says anyway. Joey kept driving through the night...Ryou thinks we might just make it."

"We have to keep going." Yugi whispered, "Zorc's going to kill Yami and I...I need to get there."

Kala nodded, "I know Yugi...we're going to get there!"

The land-drover jolted again as Malik climbed in through the open boot, he hated Yugi bread with bacon slid between it. "Eat up Yugi, you need your strength. Little Aang says that your dreams tax you."

"How does he know about my dreams?"

"Dude, don't ask me that?" Malik snorted as he bent forward to kiss Kala gently, he handed her breakfast. "How the heck does he know anything...dragon of the wind he sure is, allusive wind! Come on, eat up, I'm driving as soon as Ryou finishes having a look over you. Excuse me while I shove Joey out of the drivers seat...he needs a few more hours shut-eye before I let him drive again." The Egyptian climbed over the aged seats of the land-drover. Yugi bit into his food, keeping it between his teeth as he felt around for his shirt but found instead Kala's. He threw it at her as she threw his own vest back at him.

She glared at him and he shrugged with a smirk, and didn't bother to turn around as he tugged his leather vest and gauntlets on. "Hot baby, hot. Oh do I remember skinny-dipping with you-."

"Shut up." Kala squeaked, "sing that song at me again and I won't listen to Ryou saying your hurt and I will, I swear, I will kick you!"

"You're my ray of sunshine, so lovely darling-."

"Yugi!"

Latching onto the sky-light of the land-drover Yugi climbed through it, daring to poke his head back inside with a wild, untamed smirk to his razer teeth, "I just want to hold you, squeeze you...there ain't no other like you."

"Honestly, Yugi Motou, you are impossible."

Yugi winked, "I know, that's what makes me endearingly loveable." The humanoid dragon hopped down from the vehicle. With a deep breath he expanded his lungs and started to eat the remainder of his breakfast.

His senses were new and strange. It was as though an overload of sensory abilities he'd always had, had been released, giving him access to feeling the earth under his feet, the vibrations in the air and sight that could piece through matter.

Sol's little scuffles over the ground where well practised. The child was already showing the most acute and dramatic and almost artist abilities that paralleled an assassin. It needed some work. Yugi smiled as he felt Sol leap and he stepped easily to the side. Sol skidded over the ground, rolled, and landed flat on his back with a squeak.

Yugi finished his last mouth full and smirked as he walked to the boy and bent over to peer down at the child, "My, my, for having a near-death experience you're awfully uppity."

Sol grinned. "I'm okay Dad! So is Puff!"

"Good to hear." Yugi hoisted up the boy and kissed his cheek.

Sol pursed his lips together, bending forward to lean against his parents shoulder. "Dad...is...is the Pharaoh okay?" The boy whispered softly, playing with Yugi's shirt worriedly. "Because you where hurting and crying in your sleep and Uncle Ryou was worried."

Yugi hid his eyes under his fringe, holding Sol tighter to his chest in comfort. "The Pharaoh needs our help," he whispered, "and we have to try and get there before the horrible and scary Shadow hurts him again."

Sol nodded. "Dad..."

"Yeah?"

"Please don't die this time...please..."

"I'll do my best." Yugi whispered, hitching the boy on his hip and turning to the distance, to the rising sun that crept over the hills of the moor.

"Then...shouldn't we hurry." Sol blinked and tipped his head to one side, "the Pharaoh needs you Dad."

With a smile Yugi nodded, "lets ride the wind..."

"The highest of currents...."

"Through the ends of space..."

"To the void beyond..."

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Yami held Seto's hand.

The young lord had no idea how much time had truly passed outside. He'd been taken from the cell a number of times to be beaten until his body threatened to give in from the pain yet those periods of being out of the darkness meant nothing. It could have been days for all he knew, days that he'd remained awake in the dark, watching Seto grow ever weaker as his energy supply died away.

Now finally, the time had come.

A tear dribbled down his cheek as he glanced to the ever dimming light of the man's chest-piece that kept the metal shrapnel from piecing his heart. It was dying away, the light ebbed, blinked and finally a soft click switched as the blue glow vanished from the dark dungeon cell.

Seto's hand squeezed the young lord's fingers in sudden fright.

"This isn't how...I...wanted to...die..."

"I know Seto." Yami bit his cracked lips. He blinked away tears, but they refused to stop and strained lines down his bruised skin. Beside him Bakura bent against Seto's chest, holding the Wizard close to whisper soft prayers.

"Looks like..." Seto closed his eyes and strung a weak hand through Bakura's torn and muddied hair, "this is it Felix."

"God no...no...you don't even have a damned shoe to throw at me." Bakura hissed between his clenched teeth.

"Hey," Seto shrugged weakly, "we had a good run, it was fun while it lasted but maybe this world...wasn't...meant for us."

"No," Yami shook his head in denial, "this world belongs to us Seto...it belongs to you and we will get out of this."

Seto snorted, "in a couple more hours...the shields...no...no they're already down. We're all dead..." He choked, "I won't even last...that...long..."

Yami winced as he heard the iron door being unbolted and light falred into the dark cell. Four knights shoved their way in and Yami watched as two latched onto Bakura. The white knight fought to remain near Seto, kicked, bit and shouted until he was all but overwhelmed and dragged across the stone floor.

"No! No! Seto! No." Bakura shouted, reaching for the Wizard. "Damn it Seto! Don't you die! This community needs you, you...you...you idiot!"

"I'm sorry." Yami choked the words through a sob. He gave no fight to the sensation of being grabbed and dragged away. Why fight when there was nothing he could do. He could only look upon Seto's strained face in the dim light, see the lines of stress and weakness and the tears that the strong young man was weeping freely despite the facade he had always worn.

Seto gave a weak smile and shook his head at the departing lord. "None of this, my lord, is your fault, don't ever give yourself that much credit...you don't deserve it."

Pulled away with the Wizards voice left to echo in his mind Yami fought back the tears and forced himself into some form of composure for the moment he knew was coming. Pegasus would make good on his word and would publically behead him before his people.

Hedingham's last lord would die.

"If this is my fate," Yami whispered weakly, "then let it be so."

It was a grey near-dawn. Cold and chilled due the failing of the shield, Hedingham was exposed to the elements once more. The environment dome and the de-scenting equipment would not work without Seto's cores.

Yami spied the gathering of his people and those who'd travelled to the safety of Hedingham over the festival weeks. His heart ached that he hadn't been the young lord he had always promised he'd be, the protector and safe haven he should have built for his people.

Was this really all his fault, had he remembered his life as a Pharaoh too late? Could he blame that on himself or was it the dragons fault? Zorc's fault for rising again to destroy the human race or maybe it was the world leaders fault for positioning the earth with radiation?

Could he really blame anyone for the state of the world?

It didn't seem right to lay blame. This had happened because it was the events that were happening. Dragged through the crowd he fought of their stares and tried not to look into faces lined in pained confusion and agony. What had Pegasus told them? That he was the blame for the destruction of Hedingham or maybe for the death of his father?

The man could have told countless lies and all of them would have made sense to someone amongst his people, no matter how much he loved them, distrust was human nature.

His chest was burning from the effort of keeping down his tears by the time he was dragged onto a risen platform and hurled down beside Bakura. His old friend, from before the Tribulation of the dragons, had his head bent in silent torture.

The pressure of Pegasus's shoes made the small makeshift wooden platform creek and Yami dared to look up into the face of his father's killer.

"Zorc." The young lord whispered.

"Hello Atemu." Pegasus smirked and turned to face the congregation while making a small signal with his hand.

Yami gasped in pain as his hair was snagged from behind and he was ruthlessly dragged forward and thrown before a wooden block. Tristan stood beside it with a placid expression, shined sword in hand.

"Ladies and gents of Hedingham, I give the man who has destroyed your home and today he will pay for his crimes against you all. I know it is hard to understand, my people..." Pegasus sighed sadly and rubbed a hand to his temple, "but the horrors of the last two days...trying to understand how someone you have all trusted and loved with the lives of your loved ones could do so much evil to all you have built up here...it has sickened me."

Kicked in the back Yami felt himself hit the wooden block, his chin was grazed by the force of the forward motion.

He wanted to speak in his defence but something inside said he had no hope of raising his voice. What would he say? Pegasus had had at least two days while he'd been in the darkness of a cell to poison the minds of Hedingham's people. The knights he saw lined up amongst the crowd all had to be infected by the dragon toxin of Zorc by now.

He had no hope of fighting.

Solemnly Yami looked to the slowly opening dawn sky one last time before bowing his head to the block under him.

Life, he'd imagined it not ending in such a manner. To die by a dragon, to die by a woman's hand, yes maybe such over dramatised endings but never had he thought of being beheaded. Truly Earth had become a world of the future by being engulfed in the past.

Each beat of his heart pressed against his chest and he slowed his breathing as he prepared himself for the strike of the blade across his neck. Off handily he wondered if he'd feel it impact or if it'd be so sudden he'd simply die.

Yet the suffering moment was prolonged and he sighed as Pegasus's voice called out across the hushed gathering of his people. "Does anyone here wish to make a plea for this man's life, speak now...?"

All Yami heard was silence in the shuffling of uneasy feet. He tensed his shoulders as the seconds trickled past. No one would speak and he did not wish them to. Their lives would be ended the moment words left their mouths.

Then it came, awakening him from his sorrow. A tiny voice but loud enough that he could imagine it'd make a rat-bag of noise if given the chance.

"I plea!"

Yami's eyes widened as the childish voice rung through his ears from eon's long past. He knew it, he knew the voice.

He jerked upwards to stare through the crowd of confused and startled faces, honing in on the tiny little boy standing in front of the gathering with eyes a deep crimson red and an innocent smile across cracked lips.

"Sol..." Yami breathed out in disbelief. The wild mop of tussled brown hair under a bright yellow bandanna, with thin structure of his bones and the elegant way of standing that could only be taught. It was defiantly Sol.

The boy smiled a warm smile and Yami knew it was just for him; a smile that belonged to him in that moment of time. The smile of a child he would claim as his own in a heart-beat. Sol's smile, so precious it was to see the boy he had heard so much of, to know he lived and that he existed in reality.

And if Sol was here...

Then...

So was...

Yugi...

He heard the soft melody that sent a ripple through the crowd, enough to cause heads to turn slowly in the direction of the voice.

"Every night in my dreams, I see you, I feel you, that is how I know you go on. Far across the distance and spaces between us, you have come to show you go on. Near, far, whenever you are, I believe that the heart does go on. Once more, you opened the door and you're here in my heart and my heart will go on and on."

Yami blinked back tears, relief sliding though his limbs like a rush of water.

"You're here, there's nothing to fear..." He whispered hoarsely and looked skyward to the rising sun.

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_*gasp* I know, I'm so sappy. But it made me smile and I need to smile right now. :)_

_Cheers my friends._

_Thanks for your feedback._

_*hugs*_

_T.W.W_


	12. THC Book 1 Chapter 11

_Hey folks, my internets been capped so that's why I haven't replied to your reviews because it's so slow I can't do anything but upload. So when the internet comes back I'll sit down and reply! _

_Hope you enjoy these last couple of chapters._

_Yay!_

**The Hedingham Chronicles**

**Book 1: Walk of Fire**

**By: T.W.W**

**Chapter 11: Consumed by Fire**

The shaft of concentrated ice shattered through the small platform and everyone upon it was scattered in all directions from the force of the destruction. Yami felt himself being grabbed by something formed of shadows and for a moment he panicked in horror. He was sure he knew Zorc's touch but it wasn't the shadow beast. A brief moment after the commotion he found himself lying flat on his stomach in front of the boy, Sol, who was smiling despite his red eyes bleeding drips of black liquid.

"Hi there!" He held out a hand. "Come with me, Paro."

Yami sized the small hand and together they ran through the crowd of scattering people who were being manoeuvred back into the safety of Hedingham's underground world by flowed direction of wind. Sol shoved Yami down hard into the dirt as Aang landed beside them both, the Elder swung up a hand as a smashing of shadows collided with a twirl of wind.

"Hello milord." Aang flashed a smile of fangs, "good to see you're well. I'll see to your people, don't worry, I have a knack for directing mass hysteria."

The young monk vanished in a gust, leaving Yami to stare at the now vacant space. He spluttered.

"Who?"

"Um...that was Aang, Elder of the Wind Clan." Sol smiled.

"A...a...dragon?"

Sol shrugged. "Well...yeah..."

Yami sensed the presence, though he knew the boy in front of him couldn't possibly have felt it. Using his leg the earl smashed Sol back into the ground, the thrust came in the split second of a dagger tearing past the spot the child had been standing. Yami twisted around in the dirt to stand to his feet. He pointed to Sol, "run! The white haired man who looks like your friend, find him! Stay with him!"

The child needed no second bidding. One sight of the approaching danger that staggered in their direction cast the tiny boy into a panicked scramble. Watching him escape Yami eased his concern before he faced the oncoming enemy. Pegasus was bloodied and ruined, once neat clothing now splattered with mud and ash but the killing glare in his red eyes remained.

Pegasus brought out a blade from the scabbard at his side and pointed it at the young earl with a dark snarl to his blistered lips.

With a quick glance around the area for a weapon Yami grabbed for an iron railing and counteracted the knight's movement with each swing. Shadows twisted around his ankles, the earth moved and he was thrown backwards to hit the ground sharply. His abused back flared in pain.

Pegasus struck, his sword striking the railing Yami flung up in a shield like manner.

"You vile, disgusting human! What have you done?"

Yami fought the strength of the blade as it closed in on his chest as his arms were forced down by the overwhelming power of whatever beast lay inside Pegasus's body.

"I haven't done anything." Yami ground the words between his teeth. "This is all your doing, Zorc!"

"Atemu!" Yami flinched at the bellowed screech. He had to tip his head backwards to see Yugi running towards him at an inhuman pace, pouncing over rocks. In one swoop the humanoid dragon knocked flat two approaching knights with well aimed punches to their jaws. They hit the ground hard, displaced and fumbling in pain.

Yugi landed on Pegasus, flipping the knight through the air and away from Yami as he twisted his legs around his neck and snapped. Yami scrambled away and managed to stand to stare in disbelief as Yugi flung his full body weight up and around, forcing the aged man to land with a resounding snap in the dirt. In one swift movement Yugi twirled out pistols and fired them into the already limp body.

"Oh...heck..." Bakura spluttered in disbelief, "who is that?"

"My dragon." Yami choked.

"My Dad!" Sol squealed in delight from Ryou's arms.

Yami stared at the white haired lord he had never seen but had heard of in dreams and known in memories. Around his neck a golden ring was visible. To the side, an approaching Egyptian man held a long sharp rod in his bloodied grasp, it too, appeared to be formed out of the same liquid.

"Joey's with Aang." Malik shouted to Ryou, "everyone's inside the big...um...Keep..."

Yami blinked at the new arrivals. He felt as if he'd known them each all his life, though Bakura was apparently having a rather difficult time digesting the last few moments, the white knight still rubbed at his raw wrists, free from their shackles.

"Well...they should be safe for awhile from the Raiders." Ryou pointed over the moors, "There are at least a hundred or so of them, maybe more, about a mile back. They'll be here in about...five minutes tops."

Bakura stared at him in confusion at their akin appearances, "who the heck are you?"

"Lord Ryou Bakura...and you?"

"Knight Bakura."

"No, that's my last name."

"No, it's my name."

"No it's my last name; you jolly well can't have it!"

"Hey!" Malik smacked their heads together. "Can you have this conversation at some other point when we're _not_ all sitting ducks trying _not_ to die by the hands of an ancient freaky shadow dragon?"

"We need to get Seto back into his lair to fix the Cores at least enough to cast a shield so the Raiders won't be able to enter into the Keep." Yami staggered towards them, Sol at his side.

"But Yami..." Bakura flicked his eyes around the Keep, "Seto...his power supply...he could already be dead-."

"Ryou's a healer!" Malik shoved Ryou against Bakura, "take him and do whatever you need to do to...get...whatever defence system you have up and running." The Egyptian took charge, swinging to Yami, "How many men do you have who can fight?"

The young earl shook his head, "They'd all be under Zorc's shadow-."

"Yugi just killed him didn't he?" Kala peered over Malik's shoulder, the young woman's blade shaking in her hands as she gripped it worriedly.

Silence dropped in the small gathering as they hesitantly began to glance around, each noting that Yugi wasn't anywhere to be seen.

They world around them was in scatters. What had once been the friendly setting of the annual festival had become a desolate waste of twisting shadows that snaked up from the ground. Yami bit back a vomiting sensation in his stomach.

Zorc was far from dead.

"Oh my..." He heard Bakura whisper, "oh...my...what are they?" The white knight stomped smartly on a shadowed tentacle that dared draw near to Sol. He grabbed the boy, holding him to his chest. "Damn...we have to get inside! Temmy! We need to get Seto-."

"Not until I know where Yugi is."

"I think your dragon has better chances than the rest of us-."

"PARO!" Sol screeched suddenly. Yami registered the name, no matter how strange it was, it rung a bell in his mind and the warning shock was enough to cause him to duck suddenly. Something passed over his head. All around him the others were scattered as shadows drilled through the air in spirals to form lethal blades. There was no defence. Yami stood slack in shock as Hedingham itself was bombarded in a rain of blades. Bricks and stones crumbled from the Keeps structure. His home started to crumble and he cried out in vain for the death of the beloved world he had tried so hard to protect.

\Atemu! Get down!\ The voice didn't come through his ears, instead it rested in his mind like an image plastered there with a warning. Yami twisted, holding up the iron railing he'd grabbed, though half knowing it would do little to protect himself from whatever was coming in his direction.

To the side of his view he spotted Yugi running towards him, the humanoid dragon was splattered in blood and wounds from what looked like the blades of Raiders but still the creature ran with an outstretched hand and an expression of white horror.

\Don't die.\ The image cried out again in the young knights mind. \Please, Yami...don't die.\

Yugi lunged.

He hit Yami directly.

They both made contact with the ground the moment the shadows engulfed them. Yugi heard Sol's cry just for a second before nothing. No sound, no movement, nothing. He was lying flat upon Yami's chest with something buried though his torso.

Yami pulled away, his body shook from the effort it too slide from under the humanoid dragon without jolting what he sensed was a lethal wound.

The first time, in real life, of touching his beloved dragon came with the beautiful beast saving his life. Irony was so lethal. No other desire within him had ever burned so deeply in his soul, to be reconnected with a half of himself that he'd been missing since birth.

He whispered in a choke as he pressed a bloodied hand to Yugi's head. "Don't move Yugi..."

"Is it bad?" Yugi hissed with closed eyes.

"I think you took the shot intended for me...this might hurt."

"It already does." The humanoid dragon murmured.

"I...I can't feel the pain Yugi." Yami frowned in confusion.

"I'm blocking it from you," Yugi gritted sharp teeth, "at this distance, I can sense you...you're...so much...you're so..." The young dragon spread his lips; he tipped his head to one side, eyes still closed, but searching for a word within his mind.

Yami blinked away the odd sensation of a picture that formed in the depths of his psyche, layered their like an image. He washed it away. Whatever it was, it was of little concern in the present.

"Shh, Yugi." Yami stared at the blade lodged in his dragon's side. The shot should have killed. He couldn't comprehend why it hadn't slaughtered the beautiful creature kneeling in front of him. The young knight gulped, his hands returned to his lap. "Yugi...I can't take it out."

"Why?"

"I could damage any internal organ-."

Yugi grasped the hilt of the blade from behind and with a firm twist tore it out of his side. The blood splattered across the black scorched ground. Unable to move Yami only stared as Yugi took off a belt from around one of his arms and unfolded it. He strapped it firmly around the wound, pulling it tight. "It'll be fine." Yugi whispered hoarsely and slid onto his feet, the iron tips of his military boots scratching what felt like glass under them. Finally, they both managed to realise they were no longer on Hedingham turf.

"My gosh..." Yugi gasped aloud, covering his mouth with blood stained hands. "Where the...where did he take us?"

With a struggled heave Yami pulled himself to his feet. The world was a hue of dangerous yellow, plunged into a night he couldn't understand but even in the dim light he could see the outlines of what had once been a majestic city of glass and concrete. Skyscrapers, now fallen and crumbled, remained high enough to look like distorted shapes. The earth under them had been super-heated into black blades grass like miles of glass. Somewhere, he noted the signs of an inter-state highway.

Everything was silent.

He shivered.

Then it echoed. A chuckle of laughter.

Yugi tensed like an iron rod, every muscle in his finely toned body become rigid and alert.

"Zorc!" He snarled and his voice was carried through the silent, dead world, "Zorc! You show yourself right now! You, you...you son of a supernova!"

"Where is the fun in that, Heba." The whispered sounded from behind. Yami jolted, grabbing for the blade at his side and holding it out. Nothing. Nothing behind him but the same scene of a shattered city illuminated in darkness the by a faint glow.

"Yugi..."

"Stay behind me!" Yugi hissed. "Just stay behind me!"

"Why?"  
"Because while you're in my shadow, you'll be safe." The humanoid dragon grabbed the knight and pulled him along over the blackened terrain of the desecrated city, what now remained of it the super heated glass frozen in time.

Yami bit his lips as his feet were bloodied by the sheer sharp blades but he kept himself on the move and tried not to look at the once great city now lying in ruins around him. Where were they? Where had Zorc taken them? His heart raced. What was happening to his people in Hedingham?

Ahead a fallen skyscraper, sunken into the earth's crust loomed with a yellowy hue. The tainted sky reminded him suddenly of what he was surrounded with.

"Yugi! We're in a nuclear bomb drop site!"

"I know!"

"Yugi! The radiation!" Yami jerked to a stop. Light flared and he had to shield his face from the rise of the sun, it looked so much bigger in the sky. He had to wonder why that was.

Yugi hugged him tightly in reassurance. "We'd already be dead Yami but thankfully, the liquid crystal in my pyramid wards it off...just...don't step too far away from me."

The sunlight was blocked suddenly. Yami covered his head automatically as a high-pitched screech filled the air. Yugi opened his mouth, giving a loud squeal in return. The young knight knew the cry. He had heard on countless occasions during his dragon slaying outings. It was the screech of battle, like a lion roared to claim its territory so did a dragon cry like a hawk to place its own. He had to stare at Yugi in surprise and awe. The creature, so poised and majestic couldn't possibly have ever lowered itself low enough to like him.

Yugi spun at him and hissed, "Don't think that."

Yami noted tears and he stood straighter. So much he wanted to say now that he faced the dragon he'd dreamed of but nothing slipped from his lips. Here, at the end of the world, they stood like a matched pair of chess pieces.

Yugi made to speak but stopped mid-way through opening his mouth. He spun on his heels and growled from somewhere deep within his chest. The glass under their feet cracked just enough for Yami to note the sound he was hearing had to be a higher-pitch than his human ears could hear.

Shadows began to form, twirling into what looked like a distorted image of Pegasus. Yami licked his lips as the mass of shadows, wings and all, drifted towards them. Yugi's clawed hand shoved Yami behind him in a protective manner, his hiss like a poised snake ready to strike.

"How does it feel, Heba...to have watched your beloved humans die as their world has withered away by the flesh of your own kind." The detested voice even sounded like Pegasus's aristocratic tone but it was not the night any longer. Just the imprinted image twirled into shadows.

Yugi ground his sharp teeth together.

Zorc smirked, vanishing in a whiff of wind only to appear once again to the right. "And you can't even do anything about it? You're stuck in that vile form...trying to protect the monster that made you weak. You were my brother! We were supposed to conquer the stars together! You and I!"

"What stars." Yugi snarled, "we were sent here, contemned of the crimes we committed, you for your horrendous acts and me for protecting that which I saw as worth protecting. You are not my brother, Zorc, you are the monster!"

In a split second, too fast and too soon for Yami to even gage it happening the two humanoid dragons lunged at each other. The shock waves of the combined forces colliding sent a vibrated over the desecrated city and Yami tipped backwards. He landed on his feet just as a twirl of flames lashed out, blocking what had been a strike of shadows daring to collide with him.

He looked up, seeing Yugi's desperate expression through the shimmering white fire of his hair.

In a mass of darkness a shadowed dragon formed, wings extending and blocking the sunlight with clouds of gas. Yami fiddled for his sword, holding it out before him like a match-stick pointed at a lion.

Yugi grabbed for an iron pole and tore it out of the glass that encased it. He swung it in the direction of Zorc. The hit smashed air and flames across the horizon. Yugi swung it again. This time it was snagged by a jaw and torn from his grasp, skin was ripped from the flesh of his fingers at the force of the movement. He collided with a building. Dust and ash erupted in a shattering clang of noise.

Yami shouted, stumbled and ran for the drop sight.

"Yugi!" He shouted, "Yugi!"

His neck was snagged. Shadows twirled around it and pulled him backwards into what felt like a cool wet slide of bedding that smothered him.

"So, Atemu Amir...did you expect this to happen?" A triangular head spewed from the mass of shadows, revealing blood red eyes edged into the mass of coiled and vibrating darkness. The flesh smelt of sulpha and gases, infused with the decaying remains of living flesh eaten by the enormous jaws of white, wide teeth.

Yami curled his upper lip is revolt, struggling to free an arm as the tentacles of shadows continued to gather.

"You destroyed my world, twice, Zorc...you won't do it again." With a shout Yami thrust his blade upwards. Somewhere in his hand he felt bones snap and break, the pain flared for just the briefest of moments before he shoved it somewhere away inside his mind and continued to hack at the threads of convoluting darkness that snapped and nipped at his arms and legs.

Glass broke, shattered under him from the pressure and weight of Zorc's massive form pressing upon the hardened surface, long ago superheated by the weapons of mass destruction. The dragon of shadows chuckled in amusement at the vain attempts of the human.

The feel of blades of glass cutting his skin only heightened the sensation of rage as Yami continued to strike out. He'd killed dragons before, but never something so huge and beastly that it consumed all light as though it were a black-hole of legends.

Yami froze and slowly turned his attention towards the blood red eyes that smirked down upon him through the masses of darkness.

"You are a black hole." He choked out, "you're the origin of that myth..."

"Myth..." Zorc smirked, "I am not a myth..."

"We said that about dragons..."

"And where is your dragon oh king of old? Where is the light that should guide you? The other half your soul, Pharaoh of Atlantis? Where oh where is the creature of beauty that contemned himself to save a waste-land of ants?"

"We are not ants!" Yami screamed, twirling his blade in swift movements as he thrust his legs forward into a fast paced run, dodging the blows of the wings that swung out to meet him. He skidded, slipped and hued his blade upwards to piece through the hide of the shadows.

Sliding across the broken glass, ignoring it cutting deeply into his already abused skin Yami rolled and flipped onto his feet to turn directly to face the dragon once more.

If a dragon could smile, then he knew he was looking upon a smirk.

"You stupid human! No mortal blade can piece me!"

Zorc lunged and Yami prepared for the impact of being crushed alive.

Yet it never came.

Yami winced as a blast of fire surrounded him in a cage and blocked his view of the sound of a wild fight. The hellish flames died away to leave him staring at the sight of a dragon's shimmering, molten hide. Like the surface of the sun itself, alive with darkened sunspots and flares, the Elders body pulsed in a fusion that radiated the most intense heat Yami had ever felt against his skin.

No legend could summarise, no words could describe the embodiment of Ra.

"Yugi?" The night spluttered in disbelief. It was all true.

Yugi's jaw had wrapped itself around the shadow-beasts long neck. For a moment time paused. Yami was sure he saw Yugi's purple eyes shift in his direction before the ancient dragon tore the neck from the body in one swift movement.

The sound of bones and muscles being torn and snapped resounded through the desolate ruins. Yugi threw the triangular head to one side, loosening his jaw around the strands of shadows that dribbled from his mouth. His tail curled itself around the dead body and dragged it away from Yami's shaking form.

The young knight struggled to stand. His wounds he could ignore, everything could be ignored in the presence of the majestic being he hadn't laid eyes upon in eons since his time as Pharaoh. The wounded dragon slid forward on the hard, black ice. Yami reached for the giant triangular head. Through the folds of what looked like lava he slid his fingers against the forehead and felt the vibration of purring. Purring of pain he was sure, the amount of blood that leaked from the beasts side unsurmountable. With worn hands he tried to scrub at the dragon's head. Somewhere he encountered scales, hot to his touch, then his fingers brushed over the soft texture of a closed eyelid.

He had never imagined Yugi to be so big. He doubted the giant creature would have had trouble swallowing him whole in his large jaws.

"Yugi..." Yami whispered and pressed himself against the beast's warmth. Tears dribbled down his bruised and cut cheeks. "My Yugi..." Lava flowed over him. Yami shivered at the sensation of large, solar wings being brought around him like a cage. He was locked in the embrace of a star-traveller and he smiled in peace.

\Yami...\ The voice whispered. Not in his ears. In his mind it brushed like a clear picture over his vision. It was a picture in his mind and not words. There was no need for words when a picture said more. \Step back...\

\Yugi?\ He didn't want to move from his spot, from the warmth that cased away all fear and horrors.

\Please, step back.\

Slowly Yami did as the dragon bid. He dared to open his eyes against the light. A swell of fire formed around the dragon until it shrunk to leave Yugi's humanoid form curled up in agony upon the hard glass ground.

Yami moved in a swift run and skidded along the glass showered in blood. He landed on his knees beside his dragon and reached out. The small, slim body didn't feel like it weighed much as he gathered it into his arms.

Yugi was shaking. Every breath he took the knight could sense the excruciating pain.

"Yugi..." Yami choked.

"I'm...trying...to keep...back the radiation from you..." Yugi gulped weakly.

Yami smoothed a hand weakly through the dragon's fringe, brushing it from his face. For a moment the knight glanced around, seeing nothing remaining of what had been the shadow they had fought. This time, their move had been the right one.

"He's dead Yugi."

"I hope so," the dragon tried to smirk playfully; "I ripped...his...head...off. He...got...distracted...you are a very...good...distraction...but...he didn't kill you...this time, this time...you're alive...so I am...too."

Yugi smiled weakly, "funny...the thing that makes...us strong, makes us...weak too."

Yami held onto the bloodied body, trembling in the aftermath of the defeat. "Yugi..." He whispered aloud, gripping tighter. The pain was beginning to seep into his limbs, Yugi's control obviously slipping. If the humanoid dragon died, he doubted he would last long either.

Quickly the he struggled off his torn shirt and pressed it to the bleeding wound on the humanoid dragon's side. Flesh was open, exposed, in too many places to name.

Yugi threaded a shaking clawed hand through the knight's hair, smiling weakly, "oh...don't bother Atemu Amir."

"No..." Shaking his head Yami grabbed the hand tightly, "no, I promised you I'd look after you-."

"I was never the one who needed protecting, you idiot." Yugi coughed blood, feeling the liquid dribble out of his mouth and down his chin, "I'm the dragon, you're the weak human."

"I still promised to look after you Yugi, that doesn't mean I'd protect you, it simply meant I'd love you, keep you close and make sure you were happy." Struggling to withhold tears Yami bent his head, pressing it to Yugi's shoulder, hugging the limp body close to his shaking chest.

"I'm not going to die," Yugi fought the breaths through his ruined lungs, his nails dragging claw marks down the knight's arms, "not this time round Atemu."

Yami glanced around the waste land, seeing nothing for the miles surrounding them. He closed his eyes for a moment, pressing his lips to Yugi's forehead.

"Yugi...we're too far, wherever Zorc took us...its-."

Yugi's long bloodied finger touched the knights lips, "ye forget, oh Pharaoh, I am the strongest dragon to exist."

Yami smiled weakly, finally feeling the tears trickle down his stained cheeks. "I know."

"Kiss me." Yugi gripped the knight's armour, struggling to remain conscious.

"What?"

"Don't argue with me Atemu Amir, I can't do this with your soul separated. I need your energy; I have none left, not without the pyramid to channel it...and...that's...gone. I had to use...all of it just to survive...it burned away when...I...finally...remembered...how to shift-shapes. It hurt...Yami...it hurt so much..." Yugi tipped his head back, giving a long cry as his body wiggled as if trying to dispel a fire.

"Yugi..." Yami blinked away tears, "please don't leave me." He bent down, pressing rough cracked and bloodied lips to the heat that Yugi's weak body produced and firmly shut his eyes against the sudden rage of engulfing fire that erupted around them. He tightened his hold on the small and limp frame in his arms, burying his head into the curve of the shoulder and neck, listening to the horrifying sound of the burning inferno.

Then it stopped.

The heat vanished, clustering back into Yugi's body and it slipped in his arms, becoming heavy and flaccid. Cool sea air brushed against his burned shoulders and Yami jerked up in confusion.

"Where the..." Yami glanced around the shimmering silken room in which they was now within, sitting upon a large white bed, recalling the alabaster chamber from the distant past. He stared down at Yugi in his arms, feeling the humanoid dragons form grow wearier and weaker with each passing moment from the blood he bled onto clear white sheets of the bed. Biting his lips Yami lowered his dragon carefully onto the mattress, ignoring the blood covering his ruined shirt and pants. Climbing from the bed he stared down at his form, noticing that for once, he was not in his ancient self's body. He was standing in his bloodied, torn clothing, the same he'd been wearing since the death of his father.

"You..." Glancing towards Yugi Yami smiled weakly, "you took us the only place you know where you'd get help. The past. Yugi, hold on. I need to find Heba." Spinning on his heels Yami dashed past pillars, grabbing the large doors and heaving them open. Glancing down both directions of the long, pristine walkway covered in the beautiful silken hanging dancing in the breeze Yami made the split second decision to run left.

He pelted, trying to recall the maze of tall corridors and twisting bends from his memories. He skidded around a corner, skipping down a set of stairs and landing hard upon the surface below. Surprised when two sets of arms grabbed him from behind and he was jolted harshly.

He blinked, looking up to see brawny guardsmen staring at him oddly as if they were registering him as someone they knew and yet he was sure he looked very little like the Pharaoh they would have known. Not in his current, bedraggled state.

"Who are you?" A voice spoke from behind a helmet.

"Yami Atemu Amir, Knight of Hedingham." Saying the first thing that came to mind Yami spluttered after their confused faces turned sour, "I need to see Heba. Please!"

"The Lord Dragon cannot be seen-."

"I need to see Heba, he knows me." Yami fought the grasp of the guards, "look at my eyes!" He insisted, "they're dragon eyes and my dragon is dying! I need to see Heba!"

The two brawny guards raised eyebrows stimulatingly and Yami backed up just slightly as he was studied. Then his right arm was tugged, near hoisted off his feet the young knight felt himself hauled off in a direction down a long high corridor. If it was any other situation he would have been awed by the sheer pristine beauty of the architecture that spelled high civilisation, or maybe the entrancing view out of the colossal windows that revealed a pristine world of high towers interlinked between a sea of shimmering fresh water would have drawn his attention.

Nothing mattered.

None of it even brushed at his mind as he was deposited in a doorway and the guard of his right shoved open intricately carved doors. A wide room, birthed in sunlight from a ceiling of glass, was revealed after Yami fluttered away the tears brimming from his eyes. The guard behind him pressed him forward through the arched doorway until he was stopped like a doll.

In the centre of the round chamber, lined in a perimeter of pillars formed out running water, a table was set and perched like a gargoyle of old upon a lounged chair Yami spied Yugi, or the Yugi, Yugi had once been.

He mouthed the name, tasting the ancient language on his lips.

"Heba."

His voice must have been heard, enough to startle the ancient beast out of whatever trance he'd been in. Surely, Yami wondered for a brief moment, Heba would have known he was in the past the moment they'd landed.

Or maybe not. This was time travel after all, no one had written a guide for it.

The guard of his right stepped forward and gave a low bow but hadn't the chance to speak.

Heba's large purple eyes widened.

"Not-my-Atemu..." The ancient dragon stood from the table, the chair he'd been perched upon slamming back at the thrust of the movement. "You," the dragon lord pointed to the two guards, "let go of him! NOW!"

Yami felt his limbs released, wincing in pain from the wounds under his arm pits. There was a shuffling sound and the all-too-familiar scent of hot spices tickled his nose as Heba's slim, long nailed fingers touched his cheeks. The ancient dragon knelt beside him. The worried look in his large eyes reflected the gentle serenity Yami knew Yugi's own eyes could shine at times.

He was rained over with soft kisses to his head and cheeks. Long nailed fingers where clawed through his blood coated hair. "What happened...by Ra, you're bleeding, where are you not bleeding!" The dragon lord freaked, grabbing his arms in sudden fright, "you've been...a shadow dragon, you've been poisoned by a shadow beast...oh Ra, I have to get you to Ryu-."

"I...I don't matter." Yami shook his head, gripping the dragon lords hands, "please, its Yugi."

"Yugi? You mean other me?" Heba gasped.

Yami nodded weakly.

"Where?" Standing in a fluster Heba heaved the knight up with inhuman strength for a tiny creature of such slight stature, "where is he? How long ago did he time-shift?"

"I...I don't know...but he's...we...we landed in your chamber-."

"Okay, move, move, move. You and you," the dragon grabbed the nearest guard, "get Lord Ryu, tell him to meet me in my chambers! GO! NOW! Come, not-my-Atemu."

The guards vanished and Yami felt himself tugged along as Heba ran through the corridors. They seemed to take a different route, the dragon lord gliding up stairs without thought, twisting around corridors as though he was flying. Yami felt his heart race, wondering if the swift movements he'd seen Yugi display in fighting would one-day become like the glided, elegant actions of the ancient version of himself.

Heba stoped, catching Yami tightly.

"You alright?"

"I'm...okay..." Yami touched his chest, glancing around to notice they were before the chamber he'd left.

Heba threw up a foot, kicking open the doors, the resounding boom of them hitting the pillars resonating throughout the great city below the crested palace. Yami winced as the dragon lord dragged him into the white room.

And there, kneeling by the bed side was a figure he could instantly recognise, for it was like a mirror. The man raised his head and Heba gave a small snort, hands being planted upon hips in obvious annoyance at the sight of the godly Pharaoh.

Yami stared at the king, himself, the lordly, ancient warrior appeared so much greater than he could ever hope to be and yet, they were the same soul. He was stooped at the bed side, worriedly gazing at Yugi, holding a slim, pale hand as though it was a delicate flower.

"Atemu, I thought you had a Court Meeting to attend to! The very important kind." Heba pulled Yami along, the knight having no choice but to be dragged by the dragon lord.

The Pharaoh glanced up, looking through platted golden fringe with blood red eyes, "I did, then I sensed your fright just before you slammed me out of your mind. Did you expect me not to come looking for what would cause you such fear. It is good that I did, Afreika is fetching Ryu right now. This little one is barely hanging on."

Yami noticed Heba relax slightly, "Ryu will be here soon then, good...good...I'll see what I can do till then." The dragon leapt upon the bed, crouching beside Yugi, peering at the wounds. The humanoid beast gave a dark growl, causing the room to vibrate. "Hold on...pretty one, hold on, other me." He whispered in a song, stroking Yugi's hair aside, "hold on."

Touching the bed side Yami breathed out deeply, his eyes lingering upon Yugi, the wounds, the pain the young dragon's expression betrayed. All because he'd fought a terrible beast to save him and his people, Hedingham owed Yugi Motou and his small family their home.

"Yugi..." Yami bit his lips, "Please...don't...hate me..."

A warm, strong hand slid to his shoulder, careful to miss the wounds he'd suffered. He sensed it tighten after his muttering, almost as if his emotions were being sensed. His gaze shifted towards the Pharaoh beside him, hearing the Egyptian man's low voice, a voice that could command armies, yet could be so soothing it would stop a crying babe.

He simply said, "you should sit down."

"I'm fine." Yami shrugged the hand away, staring back at Yugi.

Atemu shook his head, "I'm insisting; trust me when I say, other me, that in a few minutes you're going to start to feel the drop off of your adrenalin and those wounds are going to start burning. You've been poisoned by a shadow-beast. Ryu is going to have to work hard to stop you from becoming negative energy, and Akerifa is going to enjoy forcing you to comply if you don't sit."

Yami twisted and snarled darkly, though knowing in a half-hearted sensation that he was being stupid, arguing with himself, "Yugi...needs me-."

"Not-my-Atemu..." Heba tweaked his head up, giving a low, dangerous growl that rumbled the floor for of the chamber, "sit down, or I'll sit on you."

"Best do as he says, other me." The Pharaoh chuckled drily, in all seriousness, "he goes through with his threats, and I so assure you, he weights a lot more than he looks."

Yami glanced between them both, "finally, when I'm not dreaming...he's dying and I'm useless."

"You're not useless, not-my-Atemu..." Heba reached out, touching his hand as Yami slowly sunk onto a chair, his body collapsing in exhaustion and swelling pain, "how do you think Yugi got here without your help? You are of the same soul, you silly human, and the energy created when two forcibly separated halves meet...well...it is enough to crack a hole in time and space. Rest now." Heba stroked his hand, "you'll see, all will be well. Rest, not-my-Atemu."

The large doors where thrust open and Yami twisted in surprise at the sight of an elegant creature pounding its way in with a flurry of water trailing from pristine white hair. Even its robe gave the impression of being crafted out of liquid.

Yami blinked.

"Ryu..." He whispered the name. He'd seen the face before, in one of Yugi's friends who'd run to save Bakura.

The Pharaoh whispered softly in his ear, "encase you need reminding, that is Ryu the Elder and Last of the Water-Breathers. Never get on his bad-side, he looks soft, but I assure you he can very quickly turn to ice."

Yami gulped.

Ryu blinked at the scene before running forward again.

"Well...this is...er...a rather interesting flux in the time-loop continuum." The white haired dragon skidded a stop, "so...my human wasn't joking?"

"No," Heba stood on the bed, "and you can philosophy about it later Ryu, when I'm not dying!" The dragon lord pointed to Yugi.

"Righty-oh then...oh Ra," the pale brown eyes jerked in Yami's direction, "why isn't he lying down, your highness, please put him on a futon or something. Hello, Lord Ryu at your service, I'm going to put this in your neck and you're going to go to sleep." Ryu smiled and Yami frowned in confusion.

"What...no, I need to be awake." The knight protested. Strong hands clasped him around the shoulders, rotting him to the spot.

"Sure you do," Ryu's brown eyes shimmered in mirth, "nighty, nighty."

A sharp pain in his neck would have made him shout if he hadn't dropped like a pin into the dead, dark space of his mind.

His mind without Yugi.

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_Egypt's sands swelled around him, shifting softly in the breeze that aided in carrying him across the dunes as he wandered. His hair was tossed and he could taste the sand on his cracked lips as he breathed out against the dead chill of the clear, clear night. Ra was just beginning its journey upon the horizon, peaking over the golden red far away mountains. _

_Yugi thinned his eyes and brushed back his fringe as he spotted a figure silhouetted against the dawn. _

"_Jii-chan!" Yugi gasped an ran, he stumbled in the sand only to pick himself back up and try again. He caught the short little man around the middle. It took a moment for him to realise he was back in his four-year old body, dressed in the loose robes Malik's mother had made for him while they travelled. _

_This had been the life he'd been born into, before Tribulation, the life he'd enjoyed, in the only land he really had called home. _

_A warm smile lit up wrinkles of brown skin and a grey beard as bristled as Solomon tugged on it in mild surprise. _

_Yugi looked up into the worn, windswept features of a face he now knew had lived the thousands of years through history. He was looking at King Arthur, maybe he was looking at a mirror of so many men all through history who all were in the end, the same man._

_His grandfather, the Pendragon. _

"_Yugi, my boy." Solomon bent down, "what is wrong? Why the tears?"_

"_Oh Jii-chan, I think I'm dying."_

"_Don't be ridiculous," the old man chuckled and tucked his mop of hair under his bandanna, "you're as fit as a fiddle." _

_Yugi wrinkled his nose, "But Jii-chan..."_

"_Hush now," he was hoisted up into strong arms, "let's go listen to Mr. Ishtar tell those stories about the Dragon Lords again shall we?"_

_Yugi frowned as he lay perched like a small doll in Solomon's arms, the old man walked across the dunes as the sun peaked on the distant rocky mountains. He pressed into the damp smell of the clothes of the adventurer through time and closed his eyes._

"_Jii-chan..."_

"_Yes?"_

"_I love you."_

"_I love you too, my little Yugi." He was held up high, Solomon chuckling as the sunrays caught them and cast their long shadows across the desert sands. _

_The old archaeologist rubbed their noses together. "Don't you ever forget how much I love you, because you, my perfect little one, are the sun itself!"_

_Yugi nodded, suddenly sensing himself as the adult he was, standing in front of the man he missed so dearly. "I understand it now Jii-chan..."_

_A rough, calloused hand, worn with impossible age, touched his cheek and he stared into the soft purple eyes that lingered under squared rimmed glasses. "Good, my boy, you've come full circle. I'm very proud of you."_

"_Jii-chan..."_

"_Yes?"_

"_Will I see you again...?" Feeling a pulling sensation spread through his body Yugi bit his lips, tears dribbling down his cheeks. _

_The old man made a thinking movement with his head, before giving a warm smile. He grasped the young humanoid dragon's hands tightly. "Time is a strange thing, Yugi...it's never straight and sound, it's always...gooey and mushy. Something tells me, you'll see me again...now...go, your future awaits you. I love you."_

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I like Grandpa Solomon, so I hope he pops up again too...

Cheers!


	13. THC Book 1 Chapter 12

**The Hedingham Chronicles**

**Book 1: Walk of Fire**

**By: T.W.W**

**Chapter 12: Past, Present, Future**

Yugi stirred. It was like a folding back of a curtain that opened into a bright day. His eyelids flickered, allowing him to see the world once more as each blink cleared tears and sleep from his vision. All around him the feel of silken sheets encased him like a coating of warm, divine chocolate. On his lips the taste of sweet, sweet sea air lingered, along with something else. He wrinkled his nose. He knew what the taste was, that horrible aftertaste that came after being drugged by a strong anesthetic.

He wasn't in any hospital though. Hospitals didn't exist in the ruined world of tomorrow. Yet something in his mind told him he was in a safe place. Surrounded by warmth and beautiful white light, the world felt like a form of heaven to his aching and burning limbs.

The bed he was within was overly large, too large for a bed in his mind, but considering he wasn't the only person in it, he supposed it made sense that it was bigger than normal. His eyes almost watered with relief at the sight of Yami lying peacefully to one side, arm draped over his head, bandages covering the damage dealt to his dark skin. Yugi reached out and brushed a hand over the knight's forearm, feeling the texture of the hairs that lined the scarred skin. He wanted to know every scar, every story behind every mar.

Snaking his hand between the knights much larger set of fingers Yugi bent forward, pressing his head between the curve of Yami's shoulder and neck.

"Thank you...Jii-chan..." He whispered weakly but paused as his tongue rubbed against teeth that were to sharp to the touch. Yugi wrenched back in shock. Yami didn't even stir at the sharp movement.

Yugi gasped, his mind realising that his own body felt different.

Beyond different.

He threw back his covers, staring at his slim, refined limbs, as elegant and lean as Heba's. Sure enough, he had finally taken on the perfect form of the humanoid-dragon lord. His chest tightened and he bowed his head into his long, clawed fingers, he had known this day would come, but facing it now was queasy.

Not that he'd really miss being human all that much. In some sense, he never had really been human in the first place, he'd just looked human.

Yugi gulped back saliva down his throat, standing to his feet, wincing at the pain that raced through his body from the healing wound in his side. He touched the bandages, pulling his hands away to see his arms had also been bound in silken wrappings. Apparently he'd been rather badly torn up, he frowned, trying to recall the events, but the memories blurred into the simple feeling he'd had. That fear of losing Yami and needing to protect the human that had given him, a beast, the gift of a human soul and therefore the gift of knowing love.

He noted lying upon the bottom of the large bed a silken gown had been placed Yugi reached for it and held it to his cheeks, rubbing the soft texture against his hot skin. It was magically cool and smelt of such beautiful flowers it was almost intoxicating.

Carefully and with as much ease and slow grace as he could manage with the new change to his body and the pain in his side, Yugi wandered towards the open balcony, the smell of fresh dawn air calling to him, with the pattering sea-shore sound of the giant wind turbines.

Wrapping the white shimmer of fabric around his bandaged shoulders Yugi bound it up loosely around his waist, stepping out onto the cold tiles of the balcony. Atlantis was spread across every direction he could turn, interweaved and linked between water ways leading out to an ocean beyond.

Everything was green and lush, the buildings stretching high into a clear sky made of cold, shimmering stone. Those who where awake had begun what he supposed was daily tasks of keeping the world together, ever flowing, ever moving in a cycle of give and take, push and pull.

He bent over the edge of the railing, peering down the seemingly miles of palace below. "This place is huge." Yugi whispered into the wind, "I wonder how it floats in the air..." He turned in each direction, trying to pin-point anything that could have been generators of any kind and he spotted to his surprise large towers at the far reaches of the extended land of water where the city grew out of. The towers must have been beyond gigantic, to be seen at such a distance, and the glow of the blue power crystals upon each around the entire perimeter of the vast nation shined like radiant light-houses.

He smiled, "impossible."

A sudden rush of wind caught him by surprise and he squeaked as air swelled around him. He had a brief glimpse from the corner of his eyes of Heba approaching in a whirl wind of shimmering, rainbow coloured light.

Yami and the Pharaoh had truthfully been right, he was beautiful, beyond beautiful; he was light itself.

Yugi firmly closed his eyes as the heat and radiant glow increased. He stood shivering, feeling the airs texture change as if he was being encased in wings. The sensation faded like the rustle of autumn leaves blowing away.

Yugi slowly opened his eyes, staring into Heba's cheerful features as the naked humanoid dragon sat perched upon the balcony railing, crouching like a leopard, perfectly balanced in his poise.

"Good morning, other-me." Heba tipped his head to one side. Yugi followed the motion, smiling at how natural the movement felt, though a human would have struggled with it. "How's the wound?"

Yugi touched the side of his torso, "fine...I think..."

"Hmmm," Heba slid easily off the railing, standing in the sun-light, brightening his dark skin to an almost translucent state as he wandered towards Yugi in a sleek stroll, the stretching of taunt muscles visible under naked limbs.

Yugi shivered, knowing the changes happening to his once human body would cause him to one-day look as elegantly graceful and oddly inhuman as the creature before him. Part of him welcomed it; it would mean he too would be just as stunning, that he would be able to be light itself to a world destroyed and disarrayed. The other side of him feared it, still, and he knew he always would.

He was not human; he was of an eternally different race of species. He was alien in the truest sense of the word.

Heba's long fingers touched his shoulders, brushing his hair aside, seeming to check each scratch and wound with sorrowful eyes. "You took a bad beating, I will admit that, your-Atemu was very worried. I am impressed, though, that you had the will to time-shift to the one place you could be healed."

"The past." Yugi raised an eyebrow, "Atlantis."

"Indeed." Heba touched Yugi's chin, tipping it up and Yugi sensed himself obeying the silent command and allowed himself to be under the humanoid-dragons gaze as every itch of himself was studied once again.

"You are coming along well." Heba whispered, "you will learn to understand yourself in time, both this form, and that of your dragon self also. You must balance yourself between them, find a comfortable place to rest. You will learn." The voice was gentle and understanding, Yugi hoped his own tone would sound just as loving to those he cared for. He was Heba after all.

Yugi frowned, "are you finding this odd, I mean...you...you know that Zorc is going to kill you and everyone..."

The dragon lord smiled weakly, sad purple eyes studying his future self.

"Time is a funny thing," Heba gave sad twitch of his shoulders, "no matter what you do, you cannot stop an event from happening, you can only prolong it...which is what Atemu and I keep doing but one-day Atlantis will fall and I will die...I am not afraid, because I know that by then, our plans will be sorted and someday you will be born." The dragon lord gripped his cheeks and Yugi blinked back tears, "and you are perfect."

"Complementing yourself there Heba..." The bras voice caught them both by surprise, causing the two humanoid dragons to jerk around towards the welder of the deep monotone.

Yugi blinked, for a moment sure it was Yami leaning upon the large open archway leading out onto the balcony. It was only after he noticed the darker skin that he was switched back into the memory of the Egyptian Pharaoh. He wore none of the golden getup he'd worn the last time he'd seen him, instead, he looked oddly natural, standing in a pair of loose white slacks hanging around his waist.

Yugi blushed as the kings eyes settled upon him with a gentle gaze, though he spoke aloud to Heba.

"Good flight?" He offered a white gown to the naked ancient dragon. "You were gone from bed for quite awhile...?"

Heba pulled the gown over his head, popping out with laughter as he latched onto the Pharaoh's arm, "Remarking the territory if you must pry my dear. T'was a good stretch of the wings, such a glorious summer we shall have this season, beloved human of mine." With a twirl the dragon skipped back into the alabaster chamber.

Yugi lingered, his brow furrowed.

"I..." He glanced towards the Pharaoh, sensing the strong warriors gaze upon him, a gentle gaze, soothing and peaceful. "I...don't...I don't understand. This is all too much, only yesterday I found out how to become a great, horrible beast of destruction and yet..." He opened his arms, gazing down at himself, "here I am. Am I no longer me?"

"You are always going to be whoever you choose to be Yugi." Atemu walked up to the distraught dragon, pressing his arm around his shoulders carefully, "though you have changed physically, as it was always supposed to be, you haven't changed your core self, the values, the soul, you are. When I gave half of my soul to Heba, he was no longer a beast, he became another part of me, the part of me that I had hidden away." Atemu turned to the balcony's edge, leading Yugi towards the railing and leaning upon it.

Yugi closed his eyes as the Pharaoh's lips pressed heavily to his forehead, bringing him back the kind of peace he needed to ground himself after the memories of the fight he'd won.

"You are that part of me."

"I...I am nothing like Heba."

"You are just like Heba." Atemu chuckled, "but you are also a result of the future that shall come. Slowly, your memories of this life will come to you but they won't change you, Yugi."

"This body." Yugi glanced down at himself, "is not human any-longer...was I ever human...maybe I wasn't...I always was stronger, faster, fitter...smaller...I don't...this is hard."

"It is not the body that makes you human Yugi, it is the soul I gave you. The fact that you can feel emotions, have intelligence, understand the world around you, believe in the impossible, consider the unimaginable...have imagination and creativity, the blessings of a Creator. It is your love that makes you human and if you are anything like Heba, you have much of it to share...he has a big heart." Atemu smiled and Yugi knew at that moment, it wasn't him the Pharaoh was thinking of.

Yugi thinned his lips into a weak smile, "then I guess Heba and I are alike."

"That you are." Atemu kissed his temple and Yugi tightened his shoulders, screwing up his face at the tender touch. He was lead back into the roomy chamber, noticing that Yami had finally risen, the poor knight looking worst for wear a Heba sat perched beside him, brushing at his long hair, trying to rub life into his aching shoulders while muttering worriedly.

Yugi glanced towards Atemu beside him, finding it odd that the king was chuckling at the activity around him, almost as if everything was highly amusing, which he supposed, it was. There they were, past and future in the same room, talking as though they were four separate people while in reality they were not, all acting as close to each other like lovers and siblings. It was beyond amusing, it was downright hilarious. Yugi covered his mouth, a small laugh escaping, though it was loud enough for Yami to jerk upwards at the sound of it. He stood in a rush at the sight of Yugi.

"Yugi! Thank goodness, thank you...you're..."

Yami opened his arms and Yugi ran into them, curling himself into the knights embrace as though the world depended on it as a defined moment of existence.

"I'm alive." Yugi whispered, "yeah, I'm alive."

For a length of time they remained pressed in each other's arms, simply relishing in the final and first true opportunity they had had to touch while not dreaming. Yugi buried his head deeper into Yami's chest and tightened his clawed hands to the man's strong biceps.

"I was so scared..." He whispered, "that I'd lose you...so I ran all night..." He gave a weak sob, "I ran with Sol on my back Yami...I ran to get to you."

"You got to me." Yami pressed his eyes closed, "you saved me...Yugi..."

A gentle, deep chuckle brought them both back to reality and in a conjoint movement they glanced around to see their past selves watching the scene with visible mirth.

"We'll leave you both," Atemu touched Heba's shoulder gently. "When you are ready, lunch is to be served in the Great Hall. A maid will arrive to show you the way after you have both dressed and...ah...reassured each other of your wellbeing." The Pharaoh smiled tenderly down at Heba as the ancient humanoid dragon rolled his eyes from a silent message.

"As I often have had to do." Atemu inclined his head in a royal mannerism.

Heba waved as the king lead him out of the white alabaster chamber, leaving the two future versions in the bright morning light that filtered in through the wide berth of the balcony.

Yami collapsed back onto the bed, weak body failing to hold himself upright any longer with his knees and legs quivering under him.

Yugi grabbed him in concern. "Yami?"

"I'm alright..." Yami whispered hoarsely, sitting up and studying the humanoid dragon worriedly, "but...you..." The knight pulled away the white gown, searching for the wound. Yugi jerked away, hiding himself.

"Don't...Yami...please...I'm fine."

"Yugi? Let me look, I won't rest until I know you're healing! That monster...what he did to you..."

"It's not that Yami." Yugi turned his head away, letting his arms fall slack to his side, "I...I...I'm...not...I'm not human anymore. It's a little embarrassing right now to have a body that's...well...different."

Yugi bowed his head, a shameful tinge of red touching his cheeks. Yami panicked slightly, grabbing the young man's hands and pulling them tight, "Yugi...Yugi, there is nothing to be ashamed of. You're my dragon, my other half, I could think nothing less of you. I don't care about anything, only that if you are near, I am whole."

Yugi raised his head slowly, staring into the dark red eyes, filled with honesty, looking down upon him with gentle, caring gaze.

"Yami..."

"Yes?"

"I want to go home." Yugi whispered, burying his head into Yami's shoulder. "I want to be with Sol, Ryou, Joey, Malik and Kala...I want to live in your castle, I want to help build a home for your people. I want a place where people do not suffer, where they do not have to die from war and starvation, in fear of dragons or Raiders...I want green fields and clear water, a place where Sol can run and I can fly everyday."

"I...Yugi, I will do everything in my power to give you your home, it may take me hundreds of years but one day, you will open your eyes," Yami lifted a finger, pressing Yugi's eyes closed, "and you will find yourself there."

Yugi smiled through tears, "I'll wait."

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It was odd to know the placement of where everything was in a room while not really recollecting ever having lived or moved within what felt uncannily like a familiar place. A holiday home, maybe, which one went to once a year but never actually lived within for more than a week or two. Yugi summarised that it was that sensation that lead him through the large alabaster chamber to a hidden wardrobe within the marble walls. He simply had to press the surface to watch the wall glitter and shine for a moment before it vanished to leave him with a long corridor full of clothing that he would have sworn had been snagged right out the future and yet warped into some kind of ancient Atlantian design.

"Oh, would Kala have a field day..." He whispered, feeling the fabric of the nearest robe.

"Heavens above." Yami poked his head in, "over-kill?"

Yugi smirked as he grabbed for an outfit and threw it at the knight, "try that one...this side appears to be yours and this one's mine."

"I have a feeling Heba likes clothes." Yami raised his eyebrows.

"Well," Yugi hummed as he sorted, "put it this way, being a dragon means clothing is a little silly...when I transformed I had to get rid of the clothes I was wearing didn't I? That'd mean every time Heba is forced to change back into his original state with his clothes on he'd ruin them. He'd want to have a couple of the same kind wouldn't he, encase something happened."

"So, basically," Yami poked his head back in, "you should run around naked then, to save yourself the bother of ruining your clothes."

Yugi raised both eyebrows, "nah-ah," he waved a finger at the young knight, "being naked is a human concept, a dragon does not have that concept. I will conform to it because I am in human form and have half a human soul. When in Rome..."

"My, you are picking this up rather fast."

"Grandpa always did say I was a quick learner." Yugi spied something and grinned suddenly, grabbing it off the rack and pulling it out. His face lit up, "wow...would Lady Gaga have wanted to get her hands on this." He dragged it out of the wardrobe. Putting it on was oddly simple, his hands almost knowing exactly what to do despite the odd style he'd never seen before. It felt modern, almost too modern to be exact, something out of a science fiction film of the Before Time. His smile brightened as he held up the long sleeves.

"Gosh," Yugi gaped at the blue and purple robe in the reflective surface of the mirror, "I could have brought the whole United States of America with this silk." He picked at the robe, "look, it has gold woven into the hemming." He bent down, staring at the hemming. "Jewels too."

Yami glanced towards the dragon's bent form, amused that he doubted Yugi even knew he was bending entirely vertical in a manner a human would have struggled at, or at least someone who had no gymnastic skills what so ever.

The knight finished tugging his hair into place, fastening it with a golden clip from the side bench, while leaving alone the more detailed day wear he imagined his past self had to endure. He turned, looking across to Yugi as the dragon spun around like a delighted toddler with a new toy. "You look lovely."

"I'd find that an insult if I was a man." Yugi flicked back towards the knight, "but since I'm not, I'll spare you my wrath."

"Which I know is quite painful." Yami winced on recollection.

Yugi laughed in delight and wander his way to the young heir to hook himself under his arm, to find he fit perfectly with his shorter height.

He glanced at the mirror, "what a pair we make." He whispered, their akin tri-coloured hair a matching feature that stood them apart.

Yugi smirked, "you don't look half bad yourself."

Yami groaned at his outfit, wondering just how the Pharaoh managed to live in it. It wasn't unflattering; it was simply not something he'd have considered plausible.

"I think I prefer my shirts and tights and I feel naked without my sword." Yami glanced around his bare waist, "I hate not having my sword."

"Don't worry," Yugi patted his head playfully, "we'll get you another one..." The humanoid dragon corked his head to one side as if listening to something far off, "the maids coming." He took Yami's hand and dragged him towards the doors of the white chamber.

Sure enough a soft tapping of someone knocking on the wood sounded. Yugi grinned in victory to Yami. The knight shook his head, pulling a face as he opened the door, peering out to spy a young looking woman standing directly in the doorway.

She bowed.

"The Pharaoh sends for you."

"We're ready." Yami gulped back saliva. "Yugi?"

"I'm starved, saving your butt made me work up an appetite." Yugi slapped the knight's backside playfully, whistling as he wandered out of the room into the open hall, high ceiling made of clear glass shimmering down into the alabaster crafted world.

Yami stared after him and blinked. "I am never going to get use to that." He touched his backside. "No...I won't."

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The Great Hall was as it named described it, a great big hall. The moment they entered through cascading double doors, formed of what looked like giant slabs of ice Yugi could not contain his awe as a rounded auditorium was exposed. The maid paused at the door just briefly, long enough; it seemed, to make sure they were inside, before she vanished without another word.

Yugi held tightly to Yami's arm as they wandered towards a seating arrangement. Under their feet the surface of the floor wavered like the drop of a stone in a puddle every time the pressure of their feet touched the watery surface. It didn't feel anything like water, even if his feet sunk just slightly into it like a mat of brand new carpet.

They walked between mammoth pillars made entirely of ice and water, leading to a ceiling of fractured glass that revealed the ever climbing higher towers of a futuristic city. Yugi noted the little shadows of moving people in windows, and the shapes of what looked like birds for a moment but after another look he decided they had to be ships in the air.

Voice caught his attention and his eyes were drawn to a table and chairs just randomly placed within the hall. To one side Heba was standing beside a tiny boy and a woman. From the dragons expression he seemed to be debating doing something but shook it off and waved a hand of dismissal.

Yugi watched as the woman took the small boy's hand to lead him from the chamber. Heba stood taller, brushing at his robe as if it was stained. His face held a small sour expression. The Pharaoh was seated at the long table, eyes avoiding the dragon and not really placed in the direction of the dark skinned, white haired man at his right side. Instead Yugi felt him smile at him as Yami tugged him along.

Yami silently pulled out a chair and Yugi seated himself just as Heba landed upon the table to walk its length and collapse into his own large chair, legs propped up upon the glass surface.

"You worry too much Heba." Atemu finally spoke, giving the humanoid dragon's feet a shove off the table.

"I do not agree with that woman's ideas on how to teach our son the manners of court."

"You could fire her again." The dark skinned man propped his chin on a hand, pointing an eating utensil in the dragon lord's direction, "I'd love to watch you do it...again."

"Shut up Afreika ." Heba snorted, playing absently with his neckpiece that held a small glowing crystal, "and don't ask them anything about the future." He snapped as the warrior opened his mouth to speak across the table at the future-visitors.

"Damn." The ancient warrior settled back in his chair, "what use is having them here if I can't ask them interesting things?"

"They're here so they can heal in a safe environment." Heba snorted a puff of smoke. "Well, mildly safe with you around."

The Pharaoh gave a chuckle and spread a hand, pointing it towards the odd member out around the table. Yami stared at the warrior sized man, already knowing just who he was in his present life. "Yami, Yugi, may I introduce to you Lord Afreika, he is unfortunately my right hand."

The warrior flicked back aged white hair and waved with smooth mirth across his cheeks. At a ting of a bell maids and servants surrounded the table to layout a meal in one swift and obviously well practised movement. Yugi shied into Yami's shoulder from the wild red eyes that settled upon them both while the ancient man began to eat with whatever strange utensils were placed before them.

"Anything you can tell me without breaking the rules of the space-time hogwash?" Afreika offered.

"Well," Yami finished his mouthful of the odd but quite nice food, "we are both still good-friends, we practically live together because it's near impossible to get rid of you."

"Ha," Afreika pointed to the Pharaoh beside him in victory, "you are so busted! I told you, I cursed you and it worked, you're never going to get rid of me!"

"Wonderful." Atemu leaned back, "I am thrilled to the core." The Pharaoh looked to his dragon and sighed at the sight.

"Heba, dear, what is the point of asking you how something tastes if you burn the food into ash?"

The humanoid dragon paused from crisping a slice of meat on a stick and stared at it darkly.

"I didn't know you wanted my opinion, if you wish, I'll eat it raw?"

"You don't have to, I'm just trying to come up with a meal plan for King Solomon's visit."

Heba glanced to the Pharaoh, "He'll like whatever you choose."

"King Solomon?" Yugi's head twisted upwards, "as in the son of King David? The guy who built the Temple."

"It's a very beautiful Temple." Heba grinned, "we supplied the gold for it, I'm telling you, it's a master-piece of human construction." The dragon lord leaned back, "much better than your boring pyramids Atemu."

"My pyramids weren't boring. They were pretty...and...interesting...and they were defiantly a master-piece of human construction. Humans will be baffled at them for generations to come and wonder if aliens helped build them." The king added with a finger pointed at his dragon.

"Ah-ah...I think you just insulted your ancestors." Heba tugged the king's ear, "no after-life for you."

"Oh," Atemu smirked a he rubbed an itch on his right shoulder. "I have an after-life now..." the ancient king stood, pinching Heba's noise playfully. "I thought I damned myself when I gave you half my soul, I recall my father wasn't happy."

Heba laughed, "oh...those were the days. Your father trying to hex me to death like I was some kind of demon..."

"To him, you were." Afreika chuckled.

Heba pouted, "I was nice to him!"

"If nice means gluing his arse to the throne, then yes, you were nice." Afreika sipped his drink.

"He deserved that prank!" Heba spat, "he threw me into the Nile while I was on fire! You don't throw me into water when I'm hissing."

"Actually," Atemu thought for a moment, "yes...he did deserve that one however the punch bowl with sleeping herbs on the coronation night, he didn't deserve that one."

Heba shrugged and played idly with the food in his plate. He burned with a puff of fire whatever he noted as edible and ate the ash contently. "If I hadn't put him to sleep, you'd have never escaped all your lovely loyal subjects to spend the night with me at the oasis...which was much more fun than being crowed Pharaoh." The dragon lord raised both eyebrows, "wasn't it human?"

Atemu rubbed his nose as if pulling away a headache before switching his attention back to his shoulder. "Sometimes I have to wonder how I've run a country with you at my side."

"You'd crumble if I wasn't here."

"I know and feet off the table Heba."

"Why, it's my table?"

For a moment the Pharaoh looked as if he was going to speak before giving up without even making a sound. He turned on his feet to address both Yami and Yugi, the interaction around them making it near impossible to speak at the dynamics shown between all three of the ancient immortals at the table.

"There are a couple things I need to see too, you're both welcome to wander the palace with Heba." He paused and glanced at Yugi, settling him with a stern glare, "no strenuous activities. You almost died..." The Pharaoh scratched at his shoulder.

Yugi gave a mock salute. The Pharaoh raised an eyebrow in curiosity at the odd movement, still scratching a spot.

Yami chuckled, "future thing."

"Right..." The king smiled tenderly, "Afreika, if you'd please-."

"Stop scratching at it Atemu, it'll only make it last longer and don't forget, you wanted it." A pea was thrown, knocking the Pharaoh on the cheek. He stopped and glanced to Heba, who'd returned to having his feet upon the table.

The ancient king grumbled as he grabbed for an over-coat that a maid held up, covering the bite mark as he flung it around his shoulders to button up the gold studs. "Come along Afreika, we have that...whatever it is...thing..."

"Inspection, my lord, of the star ship Seth's so very excited about." The white haired lord slipped from around the table, drowning the remains of his drink. He passed by Yami, slapping the knight over the shoulders, "you've got so much to look forward to! You look like he did when he made all his first wee little mistakes. Have fun!"

The warrior jogged quickly to the Pharaoh's side, the ancient king still rubbing his shoulder as they exited the large hall.

Yugi frowned in thought at the exit of possibly the only sane person in the room, or at least the Pharaoh gave the impression of being sane, even if he wasn't. He looked to Heba as the dragon unhooked his legs and slid them off the glass table, allowing a maid to tut, tut at him while she gathered up the plates. Apparently with no one around to annoy, the point of them upon the table's surface seemed redundant.

"What was that...was that a bite? He had a bite on his shoulder." Yugi inquired.

Heba pursed his lips, making a snap decision and grabbing Yugi's arm, pulling him down to whisper into his ear. Yugi gave a squeak, jolting away and staring blankly at the ancient dragon lord.

"Are you serious! I can do that?"

Heba rolled his eyes, pulling him down again to whisper once more.

Yami folded his arms, watching the two in a hushed conversation.

"Hello?" He gave up waiting. "Wonders of Atlantis to see?"

Yugi jerked in his direction, eyes flashing. Yami choked at the wild stare shifted in his direction. The young knight noted quickly the lengthening of fangs before Yugi slapped a hand over his mouth in an almost nervous reaction.

"Yami," a soft voice came through the muffled hand, "you need to run."

"Um...why?" Yami stepped back a pace.

Heba smirked playfully, propping his chin upon his hands, "ever played catch the human? It's a very fun game, Atemu and I do it all the time...I always catch him, not that he complains...too much..."

Yami glanced between them both, still confused, though the slight shift in Yugi's eyes caused his muscles to coil in action. "I...I don't understand."

"Well," Heba began to clean non-existent dirt from his claw like finger-nails, "let me put it this way...before we dragons kill a creature we...prepare them for eating. We do not like our prey to struggle so we...inject them with venom that sooths them and creates a sensation of bliss. Then we kill, the pray will not even be aware it is being torn limb from limb, or in my case, burned into nice tasty ash." He licked his lips, looking to the pale faced knight, "this...toxin is deadly and will kill anyway...it is a way of marking our kill for later so that other dragons don't steal it. It is also used to mark our territory and whatever we feel belongs to us. About every couple of weeks I run around remarking Atlantis, you know, just so my kind know I'm queen around here...or king...depends on how you look at it I guess. Actually, I think I'm a queen, since I can give birth, okay, I'm a queen like a bee hive I suppose...hmmm, I think that's right..."

Yami blinked.

"That was off topic, sorry, anyway..." Heba waved a hand flamboyantly, "What I am trying to stay is that we can't make love like humans, the very idea is ridiculous, however a rather intriguing subject I often contemplated before I met Atemu." The humanoid dragon motioned down at his all too slim frame. "Why, this flesh I wear, this skin...it's a coat over my true form...a powerful, magical...beyond your wildest creature not even from this world...but you gave me half your soul and therefore, I feel human emotions, like love, devotion...rage, hatred...excitement...and I learnt ways to make my human happy. I rather had too; humans are very social creatures...you live off of relationships. While us Elders like myself and Ryu, we're very...lonely creatures, we travel centuries between star-systems alone. Its normal however you put a social creature with a lonely creature...hmmm...what do you think happens?"

Yami stepped back another pace.

"A happy human is better than a sulking one." The dragon lord raised his attention, settling the knight with a firm stare of sadistic glee. "So...not-my-Atemu...I would highly recommend running."

Yami raised an eyebrow, glancing back to Yugi, who's hand still covered his mouth.

"Consider this," Heba stood, giving a cork of his head as he moved away, "my gift for killing Zorc. Yugi," the dragon lord touched his counter-parts shoulder, "don't be frightened, you won't hurt him...much..."

"Oh...no...no...no." Yami suddenly help up his hands.

Heba grinned, "oh, he just remembered what I'm talking about...how wonderful!"

The knight turned and ran, calling out as he dashed past the guards, "damn it, Heba, couldn't you have left that out!"

Laughing in delight Heba waved at the vacant space, "have fun!" He tapped Yugi's shoulder, almost seeming to release him from a hypnotic state. For a moment Yugi remained motionless before he shifted into a bolted run, far too fast for a human to counter.

Heba leaned onto the table; smiling contently a he continued picking at his claws and hummed from within his chest, the sound vibrating the large hall. "I ain't called a dragon for no reason, not-my-Atemu..." He swung his legs upon the table again.

"Heba! Feet off the table!"

The dragon frowned, "whatever Ryu."

The water-breather swelled up to the table from the ground as though being created from a puddle. He glanced around, "where are they?"

Heba opened one eye and glanced to the watery creature beside him, he gave a smirk, flashing fangs, "I have no idea...I do wonder where they could be, oh well, let them run around a bit. They'll be easy enough to find..."

Ryu's brow folded together and he rubbed at the bridge of his nose, "Heba..."

"What?"

"You're the most annoying creature in the universe."

"I don't know, the cockroach is pretty bad..."

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Yami didn't know if it was something about remembering where he was or if it was a subconscious effort of taking a path he must have ran a hundred times in the past, but somehow he ended up outside of the Palace-grounds within what looked like a risen garden that floated above a far, far drop into a gorgeous lake of shimmering blue water.

He trotted down the marble stairs, panting just slightly from the exhilaration of the effort of running through endless corridors and halls. No one he passed, servant or guard, had stopped him. In fact, he was downright positive he'd seen them smiling at him as if it was a scene they were quite use to.

Therefore no one helped him, he simply had to run despite inwardly knowing it really wasn't any use. His pace slowed as he entered through blue crystal gates, his feet pressing into soft moist grass. Somewhere a bird was chirping high in one of the many strange looking trees.

His breath froze in his throat as he noted the very spot he had become so familiar with in his dreams. The small risen hill with an alien tree atop it and a surrounding of so many flowers it was impossible to tell where all the colours changed.

It was the garden of their between-world, yet instead of a dream, it was the real place. Every flower and tree placed exactly to the point he could recall. Even the fountain of crystal was trickling with water, the sound of it catching him slightly off guard as he twisted around in awe at the pristine surroundings. His feet carried him to the familiar place as if in a trance, the large overhanging tree upon the crest of a small hill where stones had been welded together to form a bench. So the garden in his dreams was really a place, here, in Atlantis. He ran his fingers over the marble of the bench and shivered at the sensation it caused down his spine.

He had made this garden for Heba, because the dragon had missed his home.

Something in the tree branches above him rustled. Yugi dropped in front of him in a crouch, eyes a wild stare of a creature entranced in a hunt.

"Should I bother running?" Yami glanced around in slight hesitation, looking for a getaway.

"You could." Yugi stood from his crouch and grinned his fangs, "you won't get far. Even wounded, I appear to be rather quick on my feet."

"Apparently." Yami snorted, "I thought I said no strenuous activities?"

"You mean the you, you were?"

"Yes."

Yugi hummed playfully as he stalked around the human in a panther like manner, "this isn't strenuous, at least, not on me...you, well...we'll just have to see about that."

"You're enjoying this aren't you?" Yami whispered hoarsely.

Yugi's smirk grew wilder, "you noticed..."

"Rather hard not to." Yami breathed out as the humanoid dragon touched a claw to his shoulder, scratching at skin that was scarred from the whipping. Whatever Ryu had done it had taken away most of the wounds but the faint lines of abuse would remain forever marring the texture of the taunt muscles.

Yami flinched. "Can we get this over with?" He breathed out weakly.

"You should sit."

"I'll stand."

"You really, really should sit."

"I'm really, really going to stand."

"You're going to fall over.

"Then I'll fall over."

"Fine."

"Fine."

Yugi hooked both arms around the knight's shoulders from behind to keep him in a steady position. There was a pause as he sensed the man suppress a divine shiver before he struck to open his jaws wide like the lethal movement for a snake. He thrust his jaw down, biting deep into the soft flesh of the knights shoulder. Yami staggered backwards and sure enough, his legs gave way. Anticipating the movement Yugi allowed them both to drop onto the soft ground, taking the brunt of the fall from behind. He slapped onto his back and twisted both legs around Yami's middle to keep him firmly rooted to the ground. Mildly surprised for a moment at the strength he could muster in tenderness. It was enough to stop the knight from moving to harm himself even an inch despite the sensation of struggle he felt for a brief interlude until the toxin caused Yami's limbs to slacken. Yugi smirked slightly, his senses heightened beyond belief as he kept his jaw and fangs embedded into the flesh, pressing deeper.

Yami made a twisted movement, his head slipping back, "Yugi...stop, please."

Yugi tightened his grip around the ribcage of the human. Yami choked and held Yugi's head firmly in a sudden gasp. "Don't stop." He hissed instead, though somewhere in the back of his mind he had to wonder if this was a drug like substance, could he over-dose.

His mind went blank.

The next thing he knew he was coming out of a high that he knew he would never manage to express in words. He was pressed to the surface of the overhanging tree, its branches filled with green leaves that made a pristine shade from the high sun. The bark made small intents in his skin as he rested against it, a soft sight escaping his lips. Yugi was perched in his lap, muttering something about thinned blood and aspirin.

Yami felt the dragons tongue on the wound, as if trying to stop the bleeding but the over sensitive skin reacted almost instantly and he twisted, hissing a moan as he gripped the grass under his hands.

The blissful sensation travelled through his limbs and Yami tensed up, feeling his toes curl tight in the fabric that bound them. "Yugi, you have to stop that...or I swear, I won't be able to walk straight for a month."

Yugi stopped, pulling away, staring at the knight in the dimming sunlight, "I don't think I'll stop...this...right here...this is good." The dragon hummed, the purring sound vibrating the earth under them. "And my saliva should stop the bleeding, but its not...I think Ryu's drugs thinned your blood out."

Yami twitched, trying not to think that the sunlight was actually dimming. Just how long had they been out in the garden? "How do you do that?" He tried a distraction.

"Do what?"

"Move the earth?"

"Magic." Yugi whispered, bending back down, "it's still bleeding." He licked at the bite again and Yami froze, surprised at just how sensitive the area now was. In fact, he doubted very much he'd be able to wear anything over it least it rubbed the affected skin and caused the sensation of mental bliss to travel through his limbs. If this was how a dragon made a human happy, by drugging them into a high-aware state he had to wonder what else the creature in his arms could do. Actually, did he even want to know? Right now, no, he didn't want to know.

"If you're so magical," Yami managed to choke out weakly, "make it stop."

"Shut up." Yugi hissed and reached down to tear off a strip from his white gown, already stained with what Yami figured was his blood. The humanoid dragon wrapped the fresh bite with a tight strap.

"I'll have to ask Heba about it..." Yugi sighed, lying back in a sudden lounge of a cat, his weight pressing to Yami's legs as he sprawled out in the sun in a kittenish manner.

The name of the ancient dragon brought Yami's mind back to their current location and situation. They had to get home, if they still had a home to return to.

"It'll still be there Yami." Yugi looked up at him with a sharp glare, "without Zorc to control them those Raiders wouldn't have had the kind of organisation needed to take over a Keep of Hedingham's size. Malik and Joey...and that...white haired guy of yours, I'm sure they figured out something."

"I hope so..." Yami whispered.

Pulling himself back into a seated position Yugi pressed a hand to the knight's cheek, "trust me Atemu Amir."

"I do, Yugi, I do."

A sudden giggle and a rustling of leaves caught them both off guard.

Yugi rolled and flipped upright, staring around the shadows with an alerted glare. A small boy wiggled his way out of a nearby bush, pristine white robe strained with dirt from adventures as he turned and dragged out a picnic basket onto the fresh green lawn.

"You're just like Paro and Le'ra! Then again, should I be surprised..." The petite child waggled a finger in their direction.

Yugi gaped. "Sol?" He gasped the name. This was Sol, the real Sol, his grandfather. He was looking at his grandfather as a child.

"Sol, for the Sun." The boy beamed brightly at them both. "Didn't you know that Le'ra?"

"Le'ra?" Yugi tasted the word on his lips.

"Paro...Yugi, Sol called me that when...when he...spoke to me." Yami tried to move, only managed to wince and grip his shoulder to fight back a small groan.

Sol giggled again and managed another waggle of a finger in the knight's direction. His bright eyes were positively beaming in delight. A shadow fell over the child and he stopped his movement to tip back and stare into the gentle features of the Pharaoh.

"Hello Paro!" Sol grinned.

At Yugi and Yami's confused expressions the ancient king offered kindly, "He is speaking Dragon Tongue...a direct translation into Atlantian is Proctor and Life-Giver." Atemu knelt, patting Sol's head of wild hair, pulling out random sticks and leaves as he tried to clean up what damage the boy had done to his once very pretty outfit.

The boy seemed to ignore the adult's work, opening up the picnic basket, the smell bursting free a tantalising scent of hot pastries and warm scented teas.

"I escaped Anzu!" Sol wiggled into the ground, before clutching at Atemu's large thigh, "she thinks I'm taking a nap!"

"Very clever of you, my little Oiou." Atemu hoisted up his robe and long grey coat, managing somehow to sit in a crossed legged position beside the small boy who was pulling out a blanket from the basket only to topple backwards and down the hill.

Yugi made a movement to go after him, the reaction almost a built-in protection habit but he paused as Heba stepped out smoothly from behind a tree and swept up the boy by his shoulder to throw him high into the air.

Sol erupted into a squeal as he was caught only to be thrown high again, each catch and throw growing higher. Atemu winced every time and Yugi reached out, touching the ancient Pharaoh's hand.

"I wouldn't drop him."

"I know, but I'm only human, my heart has a habit of over-reacting even if my mind knows something." Atemu touched the young dragon's fingers to his chest and Yugi frowned at the fast-paced beating of the organ within. T

he Pharaoh smiled, "see, you have to be gentle with me...I don't have your strength. Nor do I have a reinforced skeleton, so if he goes jumping off any buildings make sure you catch him." The Pharaoh motioned to Yami, the knight's stare directed thinly at Heba's approach.

Yugi nodded slowly in silent understanding. "I'll try..."

"Don't try," Atemu kissed his cheek, "catch me."

Gliding towards them Heba bounced Sol upon his hip, "look at this, you're such a naughty boy stealing food from the kitchens."  
"I thought a picnic would be fun!" Sol squealed in delight. "And I wanted to see the other-you's!"

Heba laughed in delight, "funny how you always seem to know where to find us. Have fun, not-my-Atemu?" Heba winked towards Yami.

Yami glared up at the ancient dragon, "I hate you."

"Oh, you'll get use it." Heba waved a hand at him in a dismissive action as he settled Sol down in Yami's lap in a rather unceremonious deposit.

"No," Atemu looked up from the plates he was pulling out from the basket, "you won't. Trust me, it's almost worse every time...be glad Elders have no drive for sexual intimacy."

"Oh hush you." Heba swiped him. "Sol's listening."

The boy blinked, "what?"

"Nothing." Heba poked the boy's nose. "Paro is being silly."

"That's what you say when you're saying something you don't want me to understand."

Atemu cracked a sudden laugh, "that's my boy," the Pharaoh winced as he was hit over the head once more. "Ouch."

"And that is what I do when he's being naughty." Heba hissed.

Sol threw his arms open, collapsing into Yami's chest. "Which is like...all the time."

Yugi smiled at the tiny child. His grandfather knew him even before he'd been born. How had the old man lived such a life, all the way through history? A plate with what looked like a warm pastry was placed into his hands by Atemu, the ancient king gently stroked away his fringe.

"Life, my little Yugi, is a very peculiar thing."

Yugi nodded, looking to Yami as the knight blew raspberries into Sol's exposed stomach, the expression on the young man's features one that would haunt the humanoid dragon. Such happiness he hadn't seen since the time before Tribulation and he was seeing it so plainly upon the face of his human.

Yes, life was very peculiar indeed.

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What had been a delightful evening turned into a delightful night of exploring a city of splendour. So much splendour Yugi couldn't contain it all in his mind and simply decided to label everything in the either 'to unreal' or 'to impossible' categories of his mind. By the time Sol was asleep and tucked up in bed, Yugi found himself feeling the weariness in his limbs and had to remember his wounds and the fight. It felt oddly far away, but the faces of those he loved were still close enough to touch.

Back in the private chamber Yugi allowed Atemu to tug off the headpiece that had been weighing down his neck. The ancient Pharaoh chuckled.

"Try wearing it for three days." He propped it to one side. Heba walked out from the balcony, his face slightly thoughtful as he near glided over the floor in elegant, lean movement.

Yugi bit his lips with a fang.

Atemu glanced down at him and raised an eyebrow.

"Yugi?"

"When...when will..." Yugi scrubbed at the back of his neck, "I mean...when can we go...back to the future-."

Atemu placed a finger upon Yugi's lips, "you'll get home soon, when Ryu decides you're strong enough."

Yugi pouted.

The Pharaoh laughed gently, "that stopped working on me many, many years ago my dragon."

Heba poked his head through Atemu's under arm, "but it did work for awhile!"

Atemu grabbed the dragon firmly, hoisting him over his shoulder, "well...have a good night rest or I assure you, Ryu will be in here yelling at you. He has this horrible ability to knowing things. Physic dragon or something..."

Yugi frowned at the large chamber, "um...where do you sleep?"

Atemu turned from opening the large doors, "trust me, I have many chambers to choose from. This one is Heba's."

"Yes, he has many, I have one. This one fits my wing span." Heba lifted his head and rolled his eyes, "but I do own that table that I can and I will put my feet on."

"Heba, you don't own the table."

"I do so; it was a gift to me, not to you. You're just jealous that I own a table."

Smiling at the departure of the pair Yugi shook his head as the doors locked into place. The night lights illuminated the pristine alabaster chamber in faint blue light. Even his skin was shimmering like the freckle of diamonds from the strange eerie glow the tiny lights from the chandelier above caused. He patted his bare feet across the marbled floor, taking the time to note that through the white stones the same blue crystal had been strained and now it too glowed as if night itself awakened the substance. Yugi paused by the bed, feeling the curtains in his long fingers, wondering absentmindedly just how well he could use the iron strength in the small limbs. His feet themselves felt less like human feet, indeed, the way he walked couldn't possibly look human.

"Guess I'll just wear high-heels...might make it look a little more normal..." He whispered, placing a foot back upon the ground. He shouldn't have been surprised he could run so fast, not with the joints in his legs and the cheetah like feeling he got from his movements. He had run to get to Yami in time; therefore his stamina had to be high, considering he had run faster than the land-rover.

His mind lingered upon the knight for a moment and he had to smile as he tipped his head around to the long balcony opening where the knight contemplated in silence out in the gentle breeze of the city. Carrying himself out of the chamber Yugi silently approached the young man, taking the time to admire what he supposed was the first time he was truthfully given the time to see who his soul really belonged to. Who he owed his personality to, his existence to - a Pharaoh who'd made a trade for his people and now stood as a young, tired knight.

"Whatcha thinking, handsome?"

Yami gave a small twitch of his shoulder at the nick-name, he rubbed at the bite mark, trying not to wince at the sensation it caused.

He sighed a long deep breath. "A mural of things actually...but you could just peak into my mind and find out?"

"Where would the fun be in that, conversation is lovely." Yugi whispered, running a finger down the curved line of the knight's back, feeling the faint scars of his whipping ordeal.

"Do you think...we'll ever build a world like this again?" Yami stared through the night that had encased the glorious city that had become a sea of reflective blue lights across the surface of glistening water. Yugi slid into the knights arms and smiled at the scene as he pressed backwards into the firm chest. Safe and at home he was, with his human.

"The future, Lord Atemu Amir, Earl of Hedingham hasn't been written yet...it's our adventure."

"Well, actually...technically from this point of view...it has been, at least to a point..."

"Shut up."

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Yugi rubbed worriedly at his arm until Yami gently touched his twitching fingers, prying them away to softly kiss the still healing knuckles. Yugi dipped his head, "it's still odd, you know, getting use to you...being...here...not in my dreams."

"My be odd to you." Yami chuckled, "I'm quite enjoying it."

Yugi shifted as he carefully tugged closer and they remained in the embrace within the Great Hall, the sunlight filtered in patterns through the glass ceiling. These last few moments in the past seemed like the last few moments of a holiday, Yugi almost didn't want to end. He knew what was awaiting them in the future. As ruined, destroyed world and a future so unknown and dangerous. He gripped Yami tighter, whispering hoarsely.

"Don't let me go."

"Letting you go is the last thing I'm going to do." Yami chuckled, the vibration of his ribcage making Yugi pull back and smile.

"Good."

The sound of the double doors into the ancient chamber opening made them turn to watch as Heba skidded his way across the floor. "I have it!" The dragon threw his arms skyward. "Let it be known across the lands that I can do anything in a night!"

Yugi pulled away from Yami as his ancient self bounced towards them, holding in his hands a golden box. Yugi thinned his eyes at the sight of it, the odd vibrations in the air stemming from it making his fingers twitch. Heba held it up in his long fingers.

"Take a guess?"

"Um..."

"Your Pyramid."

Yugi's face lit up in delight, "really!"

"Made another one for you." Heba slipped open the small box, "you said the other one got reabsorbed into you when you finally switched forms. It was supposed to do that, by the way...it was the link Atemu and I will...um...someday create along with the other Items for the rest of our Court."

"Will it do it again if I change again?" Yugi inquired in curiosity.

"No, it should channel the energies of the cosmos around you when you morph," Heba mused, "oh, here not-my-Atemu...this is for you." Heba threw a necklace around the young knight's head and let it clink into place. Yami glanced down at the blue shimmering crystal. He picked at it, feeling the odd prickling of it against his skin. The energy it produced made his body shiver and he nodded slowly in understanding.

"Thank you."

"Oh, don't thank me; Yugi's the one you need to thank. He's the one who give you the immortality, these crystals are condensed energy of the universe all packed into itty-bitty little spots. Don't abuse it!" Heba snapped his jaws. "Clear?"

"Very."

"Right," Heba slipped out the inverted pyramid and smiled towards Yugi. The ancient dragon placed the golden pyramid around his younger self's neck and Yugi felt it clink with the silver plates of the large necklace adorning his chest. "Back where it belongs." Heba whispered, "Your dragon-self will, at times, become untameable...I have often become lost in rage...when such a state happens your-Atemu will know what to do. They have a knack for it, you know."

Yugi nodded, giving a smile as he touched the inverted pyramid fondly, feeling the energy within it and for a moment he shuttered at the recollection of the power he'd summoned.

As if noticing the slight change Heba bent forward and whispered softly. "Don't fear," the ancient dragon lord kissed his cheeks, "do not fear yourself, other me, you cannot live in fear. If we do not protect this Earth then who shall? You are both human and dragon, we wished it to be so, that we would feel what humans felt, and be able to better protect them with such a power. Love your people and you will do no wrong, or well, at least, less wrong...I mean, I've pulled off a good mistake once in awhile...anyway, that's not really my point. My point is, you're going to do fine!"

"Thank you." Yugi smile, "thank you."

"Thou art welcome." Heba brushed back his fiery hair. "Other me."

"Wait! Wait! Stop!" A shout echoed through the silver hall, brushing through curtains over a wide doorway Ryu ran, robe hoisted around his long, lean legs. "Wait, I haven't given them my gifts yet you lunatics."

Yugi glanced to Yami, "wow, he even sounds like Ryou...that is so uncanny."

Behind him Atemu and Bakura came through the great doors and Yugi bit his lips, glad that their presence was here for the goodbyes.

Ryu lunged up to him, white hair shimmering in flicks of water. He held up a worn and used bag. Yugi sniffed, smelling years of abuse on the old fabric. He smiled as Ryu slipped it over his shoulder and patted it into place with a grin.

Ryu stepped back, "these are potions for those who have been poisoned by the shadow-beast, be mindful though," the ancient water-breather sighed sadly, "those who have been forced against their will shall often feel as though their actions had been their own and they shall...at...at times they've been know to...do away with their own lives to repay for their crimes."

Yami nodded, "I understand."

"Keep them under your wing," Ryu flicked his stare to Yugi, "watch over them, for they shall need care and love so that they know you do not blame them for their actions." The healer pulled out a large leather volume. Yugi stared at it, pausing as it was placed in the bag he'd slung over his shoulder.

Ryu smiled, "that is for my future self, I have been keeping it for this day...its full of all my spells, potions, healing diagrams and notes that I am sure, I will find useful in the future."

Yugi laughed, "you'll love it."

"I'm sure I will." Ryu touched Yugi's cheeks and Yugi felt the chill of the freezing touch, "it was good to meet you, Yugi Motou, and you, Knight Yami. I shall pray that your future shall continue to cross with your past so that mayhaps, one-day, I shall meet you again."

Yugi bent forward, pressing their foreheads together. "So do I, brother."

Ryu stepped away quickly, giving a small bow in Atemu's direction.

The Pharaoh made a motion with his hand, taking the floor. He held up the large silver canister, its sides frozen with ice. "This holds a blue Crystal-."

"A full one, not a shattered one?" Yami gasped. Seto was going to have a heart attack in pure joy.

"Indeed." Atemu nodded. He placed it beside the young Knights feet before picking up another, "this also holds a smaller one, your Seth should know what to do with it. If what you told me is correct, he discovered what must have been a very, very small fragment of one of our larger power-sources. Lucky for you he was smart enough to figure out how to implement the technology..."

"And this!" Heba passed a bag of vials to Yugi, "these are very delicate; they are for growing new Crystals from Dragon Tears. You see," he pulled out a single long tube, filled with shimmering liquid, "one is already growing. Our memories should aid you in understanding the growth cycle. With them, you shall be able to aid your people as we have. You will be able to share immortally with those of your Court and set up a running government that will not be shaken. I warn you though, do not let others get hold of this technology." Heba stared at Yugi for a moment, "it is technology created by the earth itself and the energy created by her spin in space. Be heedful of its power and your power also for this is dragon tech from across the stars."

"Th...thank you..." Yugi bit his lips, closing his eyes as Yami hugged his shoulder tightly at they both looked up to see Heba and Atemu smiling warmly.

"No," Atemu inclined his head, "thank you, Yugi Motou...for you have brought us such hope in the knowledge that one-day the shadow-beast shall fall...simply because you would not let him pass."

Nodding through tears Yugi smiled, "no...I didn't." He tipped his head to look up at Yami, "I couldn't. I had an advantage though," Yugi smiled, "he didn't know I could kick his arse when he wasn't looking at me. Though, I'd like to not get thrown into a building again. That rather hurt."

Yami shook his head, "I'd like that too."

"Well then, you'll be needing a weapon if you're wishing fulfil your role as a Paro." Afreika slipped out from beside Ryu.

Yami frowned in thought, "I lost my best sword..."

"Yeah, well, I got one better for you." Afreika smirked as he withdrew something from behind and threw it in Yami's direction. Swiftly the knight caught it and stared in awe at the blue crystal blade. It shimmered with light at every twist he made. "Here is a new one...make sure to rub it in my other-selves face won't you, I'll be really irked."

Yami smiled at the startlingly beautiful blade, "yes, you will be." He twirled it and listened in delight at the humming sound it made and the blue glow it left in the air.

"Fantastic!" Afreika cheered.

His dragon glared at him, "you really are so sadistic you know, wanting to make yourself annoyed."

"I'm a fun guy." The warrior shrugged.

"I'm not sure if that's the word I'd use." Ryu rolled his eyes.

Waving at them both Atemu stepped forward and placed his hands upon Yugi's shoulders. Yugi sensed an ever so faint tinge of a blush flicker over his cheeks from the ancient king's gaze, so much older than Yami's.

"Look after yourself..." The king hugged him carefully and Yugi nodded into the fabric of the Pharaoh's coat. "And look after me, I do have a way of getting myself into the most awful amount of trouble."

"I will." Yugi bit his bottom lip as Atemu pulled away, laying a kiss upon his forehead.

"Good." The ancient king stepped aside, looking to Yami with a tender smile. "If you need someone to bounce ideas off of, you know where to find me."

Yami inclined his head in silent thanks as Atemu backed away, to have his arm caught tightly by Heba.

"Goodbye, other-me and not-my-Atemu." Heba waved vigorously. "Come back to visit! Bring your Sol next time; I'm sure he'd get along great with himself."

"Only if you promise to take us to see King Solomon's Temple?" Yugi laughed as he took Yami's hand.

"It's a date." Heba winked.

Yugi breathed in deeply, looked to Yami. The knight gave a nod and the dragon closed his eyes, centring his mind upon the shifting of the earth under him and the slow movement of the tectonic plates. Somewhere, amongst the ciaos the light was lit and he grabbed for it, sending them both hauling through time and space.

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Hedingham.

His home. A safe haven in a world ruined and destroyed. A strong hold in a time when humans needed a place to whisper about, to tell in songs and the words of bards.

Yami gripped the fallen and shattered stone in the hand. They had so much to rebuild, but first, they needed to bury the dead. Already he could see Bakura out in the fields beyond the moors, a small speck with a gathering of men and women, beginning the preparations of digging graves.

Never could he have imagined that shadows could have killed so many. Zorc had done his deed and Yugi had fought to contain stray shadows throughout Hedingham, burning that which he found or allowing Sol's other-half to consume and destroy.

Puff.

Yami smiled faintly at the name of the new Elder of the Shadow-Stealers. In a matter of a day he had inherited his father's lands, a partner and twins. He scratched at his head as he leant against the high wall of Hedingham's tallest point, here he could look across all his lands that he ruled. It was going to take time and effort to build the world he wanted to see, he didn't even know if it was going to be possible.

His mind sensed something, the prickle of an image that made him shiver. Yugi's approach could always be felt now, the dragon's mind would brush against his own. They were not thoughts thought, instead what he saw in his mind where images, a form of telepathy he had never thought of. The crystal around his neck seemed to heighten something that had been dormant in his mind, he hoped in time they'd have enough to make a Court but that was some time away yet.

Yugi's hand slid up his back, the humanoid dragon's chin coming to rest on his shoulder.

"Thoughts, handsome?" He whispered.

Breathing out deeply Yami licked his lips.

"Well," the young earl gazed around the ruined moors, the earth still smouldering from the fires that had raged in the war fought between two great, dangerous beasts, even if only for a moment, Zorc had left his mark upon the landscape and upon Hedingham herself. "We've got some work to do." He murmured, looking down at Yugi as the humanoid dragon slid around to perch like a cat upon the balcony of the Keeps highest level.

He reached out, pressing a worn scarred hand to the dragon's warm skin. Yugi glanced up and around, giving a weak smile, tipping his head up to receive the gentle kiss and with it came the sensation completion, no longer did the burning inside cause pain. He was whole again, he knew his place, he knew his home. Hedingham, with his human, and their people.

Yami kept a hold of his dragon's face, "I promised you Yugi, I'd make you and Sol and Puff a home. I intend to keep that promise."

"I guess," Yugi breathed out, bowing his head in relief, "I'll keep my eyes closed till then."

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_**Epilogue**_

_Once, my dear children, I had said only one species would survive this battle for our Earth._

_How wrong I was._

_It is together that we, both Dragon and human, shall grow stronger and fight those who form against us at every oppressing angle; those enemies here upon the Earth we so dearly love and those from across the stars who may hunt us for daring to defy them._

_Yet, my children, as long as the Earth holds her place in our hearts so shall the Elder of Fire burn and protect. Forget not the beast that dwells somewhere amongst you, with a smile and a twirl he shall dance and sing you the lullaby of the soul in which he bears._

_He is our shield, the fallen star who came from across empty space to walk amongst humans as though he called us his own._

_I am Atemu Amir, Earl of Hedingham._

_The Dragon King_

_The human half of bringer of Fire._

_These are our tales._

_These are your tales._

_The Hedingham Chronicles._

_For the future is unwritten._

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**Book 2: Children of Ra**

Should be coming along soon, if I don't start _Those Distant Stars_ in the next few days.

I amuse myself... =D

Hope you enjoyed this story. Thanks so much for reading and thank you to those who reviewed as well!


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